Chapter on Maintenance for Divorced Women

1. A woman divorced with a revocable divorce is entitled to lodging and living expenses, whether she is pregnant or not, for as long as she remains in her ʿiddah.

2. A woman divorced by an irrevocable divorce is entitled to lodging but no maintenance unless she is pregnant; if she is pregnant, she receives both lodging and maintenance.

3. Every woman separated by an irrevocable divorce—such as one who obtains khulʿ or the like—is treated the same as an irrevocably divorced woman.

4. Lodging is due to every divorced woman, pregnant or not, whether the divorce was revocable or irrevocable.

5. A divorcee who has no waiting period—namely, the woman with whom marriage was never consummated—has no right to either lodging or maintenance.

6. A widow, whether pregnant or not, is entitled to lodging but not to maintenance; she must cover her own expenses from her share of the inheritance until she delivers, or from her other property.

7. The measure of a wife’s maintenance is determined by the husband’s financial means, whether straitened or affluent. Her own social standing is also considered: if the husband is wealthy and she is of a class that customarily keeps servants, the maintenance includes her food, clothing, the servant’s upkeep, the rent of her dwelling, and all other necessary expenses. Allah the Exalted says: “Let the affluent spend according to his means, and let him whose provision is limited spend out of what Allah has given him; Allah does not burden a soul beyond what He has given it” (al-Ṭalāq).

8. If a man gives his wife a year’s maintenance—or something like that—in advance and then divorces her irrevocably, he may reclaim from her whatever of his money is still with her, taking it back if he finds it; and if he does not find it