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Fatwa CenterA divorced woman with children: who is responsible for their support?
Question
Could you please tell me the rights of the woman is this case. After her third divorce, the mother of four children (a girl ,19, a boy, 14, and two girls,under 10 years) agreed to keep them with their father's permission. Now he says he won't give any maintenance for the wife or children. What is the Islamic ruling in such a case? It is said that a woman doesn't get anything after divorce according to Islam. What should the woman do after a divorce? Where should she go and who should take care of her and her children as she has no support from her parents either? In such a case is it the duty of parents or other family members to take care of them? Should the father give maintenance for the children?
Answer
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
No just person whether a Muslim or a non-Muslim could doubt the absolute justice of Islam. Indeed Islam is the religion of justice. Any person who has the slightest knowledge about the teachings of Islam knows this fact.
These teachings include that a husband must spend on his wife, provide her with shelter (house) and other provisions, as long as she is within his guardianship, and even if he grants her a revocable divorce, in which case he will not need a new contract or dowry if he decides to take her back to marital life. Allah says: "Lodge them (the divorced women) where you dwell, according to your means…"(At-Talaq 65:6)
The reason for this is that the relationship between a husband and a wife still prevails. However, if the woman is divorced by an irrevocable divorce, then she is no longer under her husband's guardianship, and he cannot take her back unless with a new contract and a new dowry, as she is like an alien woman to him.
Anyway, the people of knowledge agree that a husband should spend on her if she is pregnant as Allah says: "And if they are pregnant, then spend on them till they deliver." (At-Talaq 65:6)
However, they differ about a woman who is not pregnant. The majority of scholars are of the view that there is no provision or shelter for her. The evidence about this is the Hadith narrated by Fatima Bint Qays, reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim, where the Prophet said: "There is no provision for you except if you are pregnant", and in another narration: "There is no provision for you nor a house." However, the
The author of Fath Al-Qadir says: "If a husband divorces his wife, he has to spend on her whether it is a revocable or irrevocable divorce, while in her waiting period (Iddah)."
As regards the question: who should spend on a woman after divorce?" the answer is that no one is obliged to spend on her except if she is poor. So her children, if any, should provide for her, otherwise it will be the duty of her relatives who are entitled to inherit her when she dies, and this is the case for all relatives.
As regards the children, it is the duty of their father to spend on them whether their mother is still a wife of the father's children or not until these children reach the age of 15, or until the signs of puberty become apparent on them, as at this age they become able to earn their own daily bread and they have no excuse. Allah says: "but the father of the child shall bear the cost of the mother's food and clothing on a reasonable basis"(Al-Baqarah 2:233). As regards his daughters, he should provide for them until they get married. However, if the father is poor and has no money to spend on his children, then the mother should spend on her children if she is able to do so, and she has no right to ask him to compensate her for doing so.
To conclude, we should note that if it is determined that fostering of the children is for the father, he can give up fostering them in exchange for not spending on them.
Allah knows best.
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