Among the legal rulings is the following:
Ibn al-Qayyim said, “The school of Aḥmad is broader than that of Abū Ḥanīfah; Aḥmad’s position is the one borne out by the evidence, required by his own methodological principles and textual proofs, consistent with the maxims of the Sharīʿah, and in harmony with the duty to maintain the bonds of kinship that Allah has commanded to be upheld.”
Dr. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ʿĀmir observed, “Aḥmad’s view is the most equitable of the schools with respect to maintenance other than that of ascendants for descendants and descendants for ascendants, because he made inheritance the decisive criterion. That standard is more readily acceptable and closer to justice.”
The scholars, in general, have reached consensus that a wife’s maintenance does not lapse with the passage of time, for it is obligatory whether the husband is affluent or straitened, and because it carries the character of reciprocal consideration.
Ibn al-Mundhir stated, “This maintenance is established by the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the unanimous consensus.”
They have likewise agreed that the maintenance owed to other relatives lapses once the time has passed, although they differ slightly in subsidiary details. Their proofs for its lapse are as follows:
-
Maintenance for relatives is owed on account of need; it is a pure act of support whose obligation is not confirmed until actual receipt—or something equivalent—takes place. If the period elapses without anything being taken, the very lapse of time indicates that the need for the past period has already been met, so the maintenance has no locus or cause and therefore falls away.
-
A kinsman’s maintenance is founded solely on mutual aid—to relieve hardship and preserve life. Since that purpose was in fact fulfilled during the elapsed period without payment, the right no longer subsists and thus lapses.
As for the wife, her maintenance is owed in return for the enjoyment of conjugal relations or for her remaining confined to her husband’s household; hence it is due whether he is wealthy or poor. Because it functions as a form of consideration, the passage of time does not affect it.