from the aforementioned wife for a year, and she has received no maintenance from him. Is the wife’s father entitled to seek an annulment of the marriage?

He replied:

Yes. If the woman is made available to him and he is offered the opportunity to take her into his household, provided she is physically capable of intercourse, he thereby becomes obliged to maintain her. If maintenance cannot be obtained from him, the wife is entitled to seek an annulment. If she is under legal guardianship, there are two views on this.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

About a man who voluntarily undertook to provide his mother, who was healthy and of sound mind, with two dirhams each day. He authorized her to borrow money, spend it on herself, and seek reimbursement from him. She remained with him for some time, and no money was borrowed for her maintenance. She then died, leaving no debts. Her heirs were this son and two daughters. Her son subsequently died.

Does the sum he undertook to provide become a debt owed by him, to be taken from his estate and divided among her heirs, or not?

If a judge rules accordingly, despite your position that maintenance lapses with the passage of time, is his ruling to be enforced or not? Must whatever her heirs received from her son’s estate on this basis be recovered or not?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of all worlds. That is not a debt he owes her, nor is it payable from his estate to her heirs as their entitlement. I know of no scholar who has said that maintenance