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Nafaqa (maintenance)

النَّفَقَة

Nafaqa, in the lexicon, is what is spent; as a term it is what a person needs to sustain life in the usual way without extravagance. 1 It is owed for three causes: marriage, kinship and ownership. 1 A wife's maintenance is owed by her husband by the Qur'an, the Sunna and consensus; it is owed from the contract in one view and from her yielding herself in the Maliki, Hanbali and the new Shafi'i views. 2 3 It is measured by sufficiency in the Hanafi, Maliki and most Hanbali views, and by a fixed measure in the Shafi'i view that is preferred; the means of both spouses are considered. 4 5 6 It lapses through disobedience and by travel without permission, with details. 4 7 Relatives' maintenance is owed between ascendants, descendants and collaterals, with the schools differing on who is included, on inheritance and on debt. 8 9 10 The animal's maintenance falls on its owner, a slave's on his master, and a poor man with no provider on the treasury. 11 12

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
Review
Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it

Family, marriage and kinshipThe poor and the worker

Summary

Nafaqa, in the lexicon, is what is spent. As a term it is what a person needs to sustain life in the usual way without extravagance; it is owed for marriage, kinship and ownership. 1

A wife's maintenance

The proofs are the Qur'an, the Sunna, consensus and reason, since the wife is held for her husband and barred from earning for his right. 2 The cause: a sound contract (the Hanafis, the sounder Maliki view and the older Shafi'i view), or her yielding herself (the majority, the Malikis and Hanbalis). 3 13 Conditions: she must be of age or fit for intercourse, must yield herself when asked, and the marriage must be sound. 13 14 Those with no maintenance: the disobedient wife, one separated by her own sin, and, in the Shafi'i view, one who is divorced irrevocably and not pregnant. 14 4 Amount: sufficiency (Hanafis, Malikis, most Hanbalis); a fixed measure (the Shafi'i view); customary amounts (Malikis); or what the judge fixes. 4 5 Means: the husband's means (Hanafis and Shafi'is), the wife's (some Hanafis), or both (Malikis and Hanbalis). 5 6 Kinds: food, clothing and housing, and, as the schools differ, medicine, a servant and cleaning things. 15 16 Sickness, imprisonment and absence: the sick wife keeps her maintenance; for an imprisoned husband the schools differ; for an absent husband it is owed from his property, with the judge's order. 17 18 19 20 The divorced and widowed: a revocably divorced woman has maintenance and housing; an irrevocably divorced one has housing only unless pregnant; a widow has no maintenance except when pregnant, on some views. 21 22 23 Travel: for obligatory pilgrimage without her husband the majority differ; leaving without permission voids the maintenance. 24 25 Separation for non-maintenance: the Malikis, the sounder Shafi'i view and the Hanbali view allow the wife to seek separation; the Hanafis do not. 26 27 28 Debt: whether maintenance becomes a debt by judgment, agreement or lapse of time; the Hanafis require a judgment or agreement, the others treat it as a debt once it falls due and is refused. 29 30

Relatives

Ascendants and descendants: owed by agreement; the schools differ on the conditions of religion, inheritance and need. 8 31 Several ascendants or descendants: owed by the father alone when he can pay; otherwise shared by heirs according to their shares (Hanafis and Hanbalis), or by the nearest and males (Shafi'is). 32 9 Collaterals: owed to a mahram relative by the Hanafis and to any heir by the Hanbalis; not owed by the Malikis or Shafi'is. 33 34 Mixed ascendants, descendants and collaterals: the Hanafis prefer the nearer and the descent link; the Hanbalis follow inheritance. 35 36 Insolvency: the means that bring the duty are measured as the surplus above one day's and night's food (majority) or the zakat threshold (Hanafis). 36 37 38

Slaves, animals, loans, lost property, pledges, the helpless

Slaves: food and clothing by sufficiency, owed by the master. 11 Animals: owed by the owner; the Hanbalis and Shafi'is compel the owner to feed, sell, hire or slaughter. 11 39 Loan, deposit and pledge: the owner bears the upkeep of a loaned item in the sounder view, the owner of a deposit and the pledgor of a pledge. 40 41 Lost property: the finder's position depends on the judge's leave and on whether the item lasts a year. 42 43 Foundling, orphan and the helpless poor: maintained from their own property, then their relatives, then the treasury. 41 12

People and things also explored

A Separation· Taj Mahal· Abawan (the two parents)· Justice among co-wives· Obstructing a marriage (adl): the guardian and the husband· Fleshy growth in the wife's womb and the right to annul (afal)· Agriculture in Islam· Ahl al-Nasab (the kin by descent, and who counts as kin in bequests and endowments)

Sources

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Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Nafaqa (maintenance)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/nafaqa/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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