of your wife. Even though placing something in one’s wife’s mouth is unavoidable—for a woman may say, “Provide for me or divorce me,” pursue the matter against him, and prevail if he withholds maintenance while able, in which case she has the right to dissolve the marriage—still, when he spends on her he should seek thereby the Face of Allah, and Allah, exalted is He, will reward him for it.

The hadith of Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) also highlights what jurists call qiyās al-ʿaks (analogy by inversion): assigning a lighter ruling to the original case in its opposite because the operative cause is absent. Here the cause for a man’s reward when he approaches his wife is that he has placed his desire in what is lawful; the inverse of that cause is that, should he place his desire in what is unlawful, he is punished. This is precisely what scholars term qiyās al-ʿaks. Analogy, they explain, comes in several forms: analogy of cause (qiyās al-ʿillah), analogy of indication (qiyās al-dalālah), analogy of resemblance (qiyās al-shabah), and analogy by inversion (qiyās al-ʿaks). Allah is the One who grants success.

123 – Seventh: On his authority, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: “Whoever goes to the mosque in the morning or returns in the evening, Allah prepares for him a lodging in Paradise every time he goes in the morning or returns in the evening.” Agreed upon.

(Nuzul): food, provision, and whatever is prepared for a guest.

124 – Eighth: On his authority, he said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O Muslim women, do not regard as insignificant….”