995 – On the authority of Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him)—in a report he traces back to the Prophet ﷺ—regarding a pregnant woman whose husband has died, he said: “She has no nafaqah (maintenance).” Al-Bayhaqī transmitted it, and its transmitters are reliable, though he added: “The sound version is that it is mawqūf (1).” The negation of maintenance is likewise established in the ḥadith of Fāṭimah bint Qays, as previously mentioned; Muslim recorded it (2).

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Lessons derived from the ḥadith

1 – When a woman is widowed, she is not entitled to maintenance or lodging from her husband’s estate, even if she is pregnant.
Al-Rawḍ al-Murbiʿ states: “The property has passed from the husband to the heirs, and she has no claim against the heirs. If she is pregnant, her maintenance is taken from the fetus’s share of the estate, provided an estate exists; if no estate exists, her maintenance is borne by the affluent heir of the unborn child. This is the position of the Shāfiʿīs, Ḥanbalīs, and others. They argue that the default assumption is freedom from liability for maintenance, and that the obligation to observe a waiting period of four months and ten days does not in itself necessitate maintenance.”

2 – This ruling applies where the parties insist upon their strict legal rights; otherwise, the ties of marriage and kinship should move believers to show generosity in such matters. Allah, blessed and exalted, says, “Do not forget graciousness between yourselves” (Qur’an 2:237), and He says concerning the bequest for a deceased man’s wife, “Those of you who die and leave wives behind shall make a bequest to their wives of a year’s maintenance without expulsion” (Qur’an 2:240).