992 – Hakim ibn Muʿawiyah al-Qushayrī narrates from his father (may Allah be pleased with him): I said, “Messenger of Allah, what is a wife’s right over her husband?” He replied, “That you feed her whenever you eat and clothe her whenever you clothe yourself …” — the remainder of the report is found earlier under “Life with Women,” ḥadīth no. 883. (1)

993 – Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet ﷺ, in the long ḥadīth on the Farewell Pilgrimage, mentioned women, saying: “Their maintenance and clothing are incumbent upon you according to what is customary.” Muslim recorded it. (2)

What is gleaned from the two ḥadīths:

1. The husband is obliged to provide his wife’s maintenance and clothing. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “Men are caretakers of women by virtue of what Allah has given one over the other and of what they spend of their wealth.” (Quran 4:34)
2. It was stated earlier that the duty of maintenance stands whether the husband is solvent or insolvent; according to the majority of scholars, it is never waived under any circumstance.
3. Ḥadīth 992 shows the recommended practice of a husband treating his wife on an equal footing with himself: he should not keep anything exclusively for himself; rather, her maintenance should reflect his own state of wealth, poverty, and authority.
4. As for Ḥadīth 993, it indicates that a wife’s maintenance must be provided in accordance with what is customary,