Marriages bestowed several right upon both parties along with duties one such right is that of

maintenance. The essay will analyse the right if maintenance, what are the pre requisites, what does
it include, how can it be lost along with academic commentary and wether the right can actually be
called a right since conditions are attached to it.

Maintenance is a right if Muslim wife, however there is a condition attached to this right and a wife
must be obedient and fulfil her duties so that she is eligible for maintenance, it is different from a
dower which is a free gift and comes with no conditions, this right is similar to consideration in
English contract law, because a wife will not get maintenance if she is not fulfilling attached
conditions. This right stays from the beginning of a valid marriage till the iddat period, according to
Hanafi’s maintenance constitutes to be a reward for wife in return of giving control over her to the
husband.

Right if maintenance is based upon Quran; Allah has mentioned spouses to be each other’s garments
and in verse 34 of Surah 4 states men are made protectors for their family; wives. Although feminists
raise voice over patriarchal society and that men have been given all the rights however it must be
noted that Islam is against male supremacy and it is evident that it supports women therefore rights
have been made for her protection and well being. We will now consider the conditions that must
be fulfilled for obtaining maintenance; Loyalty, fulfilling rights of conjugal and loving her husband fall
within the ambit of obedience, a wife should not be indifferent to be husband and must be loyal to
him. If wife is disobedient then a husband should first scold her, if her behaviour persists then he
should stop sharing bed with her, even then if disobedience continues he should do light beating
however Doi states that this was only a figure of speech and in no way is allowing a man ti beat his
wife, he used a Hadith to support his opinion where Prophet pbuh talked about using a
Miswak( toothbrush). The beating has been criticised a lot as it appears to be endorsing domestic
violence. Supporters say that it is not actual beating and coercion isn’t the end goal but persuasion is
since aim is to stop wife from being disobedient, which will not be achieved if it was actual beating
and harming the wife is not the goal.

For purpose of maintenance it constitutes of food shelter clothing or anything that is important for
life ( M Jasab v Haji Adnan) also that there are no fixed items and it can change according to the
worldly change ( Ahmadullah v Haffizudin) also maintanence can in recent times be things like
mobile phones etc since necessities have been changed and cannot be fixed. Regardless of what
maintenance is; once wife becomes disobedient she loses maintenance right. It can be due to her
not fulfilling the needs explained above. For example if she is not loyal. In Jordan and syria going to
work without getting husband’s permission or even when leaving house due to reason that is not
lawful. However there are certain reasons which are considered lawful and will not amount to a wife
being disobedient, if her dower is not given, she can reject martial relations with husband incase this
happens ( Pakistan, Jordan) also if husband is violent disrespectful or she is a co wife and there are
no separate houses. Her actions to counter these do not count as disobedience. This shows some
balance towards the rights of both parties.

The key question is how is maintenance actually calculated , how do we know if a wife has been
given accurate maintenance or not. For this purpose maintenance depends upon different factors;
these for instance sociological, economic etc. A subject assessment of entire circumstance is made.
However if one spouse is rich and other is poor then issue arises regarding the standard of
maintenance. Hanafi’s state that if husband is rich and wife is poor, the mean is taken out to find
out the maintenance . But if its vice versa then husband’s standard of previous living will determine
the amount. Hanafi position favours men however if we consider Malakis and hanbalis they consider
calculation of mean regardless of which spouse is the poor or rich one. But position of shia school is
different and favourable to woman because they consider living standard of husband regardless of
which spouse is poor or rich. However Ithna shari school takes into account standard of wife only.
This is favourable to woman because It makes sure there living standard is maintained.

Smith Michael D. States in his article that the conditions such as loyalty, obedience and reliance are
all derived from patriarchy and according ti feminists men who have been brought up in a
patriarchal society subject their wives to domestic violence. However men with non patriarchal
mind set treat their wives with respect. Also that illiteracy and low income individuals are violent
and disrespectful. Hence women shouldn’t be subject to patriarchal ways in my opinion. The
position of traditional law was the maintenance was only a right till Iddat snd once divorce is
confirmed and Iddat passes on the right vanishes because Iddat period can be used to reconcile but
once divorce occurs no reconciliation is possible However we need to compare traditional view to
that of contemporary law of different states. In India husband’s are suppose to maintain wife even
after Iddat, the purpose behind this was reducing the burden kn state since divorced women will
depend upon state. Also it will prevent a husband from divorcing without a solid reason,Indian law is
quite favourable to woman. Since a woman who has been deprived of maintenance past 2 years she
will be eligible to obtain divorce. A man who was enough wealth must maintain children and wife
( S.125) a woman despite being divorced in India receives maintenance till the time she gets
married again as per S.127(3)(b) however if she herself asks for divorce post Iddat maintenance will
not be provided. Furth court considered Surah 2 verse 241 in Shabano begum case, and held
divorced woman will get money from husband as a sum in order to maintain herself if she cannot o
it herself.

In Pakistan no statutes like India exist regarding post Iddat maintenance and it is not given however
according to commission on marriage and family court can grant post iddat maintenance for
instance if wife was given divorce with no strong justification. Maulana Eithasham Janvi is against
this approach and considers talaq to end marriage rughts and duties so no need of post Iddat
maintenance.. According to Mensky Pakistan has no set laws regarding divorce and maintenance and
woman are subject to unfair treatment, post divorce they are to live with their parents as it was the
case in M. Sabir v Uzma. Pakisstani law is not favourable to woman like India however Bangladesh
uses same approach as India and women get maintenance after Iddat before their new marriage
( Shamsun Nahar v Begum). Laws must be amended in my opinion to achieve fairness like they did in
India and Bangladesh, Zoya Hassan in her article expressed that religion is has been politicised and
they do not change it considering it to be a threat to religion which it isnt,