Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

my wife was working she sent her earnings to her mother without my knowledge and without my permission through my friend,she lied me that she is getting less salary she had given part of her salary towards babysitting of my kids and spent the balance amount towards her personel expences,we had a dispute now she is asking back the amount what she gave to me,according to sharia what she has done is right?do i have to give her money back?

my wife mother has an illegal affair with her husbands younger brother after her husband died.i dont like to send my wife to her mother house we have 3 daughters.every time we have dispute with this subject.can please tell me wheather i can send my wife and children to her house?

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Wife’s earnings

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Dear Brother in Islam, no husband is allowed to or has a right to stop his wife from keeping good relations and visiting her mother or her relatives, no matter who they are or how many sins they might have committed.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 34: Men are the managers of the affairs of women because Allah has made one superior to the other, and because men spend of their wealth on women.

Islam has laid the complete financial responsibility in running a household or a family on the shoulders of the man. It is the duty and the responsibility of the man to make a living, and to provide from his means for the housing, and the food, and the clothing, and all other expense needed in running the family.

The wife has absolutely no financial responsibility or obligation laid upon her by Shariah to provide for even a grain of rice for the family, even if she is a multi-millionaire in her own right! It is the husband’s responsibility to provide her for all her needs according to his means. If the wife works and earns some money, or she has inherited some wealth from her family; that wealth belongs solely to her and she may do with her personal wealth whatever she wills. The husband has absolutely no right to use or demand anything from his wife’s earnings or personal wealth. But if the wife, of her own free will, and without any force or coercion whatsoever, wishes to spend from her wealth on the house, or help her husband financially, there is no harm.

The wife is well within her rights to spend of her wealth on herself, or give her money to anyone she wills, including her mother or her relatives or her friends, etc. If the wife has given some money to run the house to her husband as a loan, she is also well within her rights to demand the money back from her husband; and the husband has to repay the loan back to her.

Beloved brother in Islam, the Shariah Law states that the complete and absolute financial responsibility of running a household is on the shoulders of the man, and the woman (no matter how rich she may be) is not required or obligated to spend even one cent on running the house. But if the wife, of her own free will, and without any force or coercion whatsoever, wishes to spend her money on running the household, there is no harm. If for any reason, the husband forces or coerces the wife in any way to share from her own personal wealth in help running the household, he will be guilty of not fulfilling his responsibility in the Court of Allah Subhanah.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan