them is to be on reasonable terms, as are releasing them and living with them, and that their rights and obligations are governed by what is reasonable, as He says:

“The father is responsible for their provision and clothing according to what is reasonable.”

This standard set forth in the Quran is what justice requires in all matters relating to marriage and the rights of both spouses. The provision and clothing that a husband owes his wife must accord with what is reasonable: the customary practice recognized among people for a couple in their circumstances, in terms of kind, quantity, and quality. This varies according to their circumstances—whether they are affluent or in hardship—as well as the time—winter or summer, night or day—and the place. In each locality, he is to provide her with the food customary among its people, in accordance with their recognized practice.

The same applies to the conjugal enjoyment and companionship he owes her: he must spend the night with her and have intercourse with her according to what is reasonable. This varies with her circumstances and his. This is the sounder of the two opinions concerning obligatory intercourse: its extent is determined by what is reasonable, rather than by a fixed prescription in religious law. I have established this elsewhere.

The familiar example is “maintenance.” According to the majority of Muslims, it is determined by what is reasonable and varies with the circumstances of the spouses. Some, however, hold that religious law fixes both its kind and its quantity: one mudd (a measure of volume) of wheat, a mudd and a half, or two mudds. They base this on an analogy with the feeding required as expiation, applying the principle of analogical reasoning.

The unquestionably correct view, however, is what the Muslim community has upheld in knowledge and practice, past and present. The Quran indicates this, and in the two Sahīh collections it is reported of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—