that when Hind, the wife of Abū Sufyān, said to him, “O Messenger of Allah, Abū Sufyān is a stingy man, and he does not give me enough for myself and my child,” the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—replied, “Take what suffices for you and your child according to what is reasonable.”

He thus instructed her to take what would reasonably suffice, without specifying either its kind or its quantity. Had these been fixed by religious law or otherwise, he would have explained their quantity and kind to her, just as he explained the prescribed amounts of zakah and blood money.

In Sahīh Muslim, Jābir reports that the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said in his great sermon at ‘Arafāt:

“You owe them their provision and clothing according to what is reasonable.”

Since the obligation is to provide what reasonably suffices, it is clear that this varies according to the wife’s needs, the time and place, and the husband’s circumstances, whether affluent or in hardship. The clothing of a short, slight woman is not like that of a tall, large woman; winter clothing is not like summer clothing, nor is the amount of food sufficient in one season the same as in the other. Food in hot countries is not like that in cold countries, and what is customary in lands of dates and barley is not like what is customary in lands of fruit and leavened bread.

In Imam Ahmad’s Musnad and the Sunan collections of Abū Dāwūd and Ibn Mājah, Hakīm ibn Mu‘āwiyah al-Qushayrī reports from his father, who said:

“I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what rights does the wife of any one of us have over him?’ He replied, ‘Feed her when you eat, and clothe her when you clothe yourself. Do not strike her face, do not revile her, and do not shun her except within the home.’”

These, then, are three hadiths from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace. In one, a wife is entitled to take what reasonably suffices for her child; and he said in the sermon he delivered on the day Allah perfected