Q. Could you please explain the husband’s right to his wife’s salary? If she wants to give a portion of her salary to her parents, can he stop her?
A.H. Bulla
A. Islam has given women their full financial rights long before any other political or religious system. Under Islam, a woman has equal rights to earn, own, spend and otherwise dispose of her property as she wishes, without interference by any male relative, be he a father, husband or guardian. As long as she is an adult and of sound mind, she has the right to do what she likes with her money and property. These two conditions apply to males and females equally.
Unfortunately, some Muslim communities impose a subordinate status on women, but this has nothing to do with Islam, although Islam is often said to endorse such subordination. The fact is that such situations are based on local culture and tradition. Islam does not endorse them. A woman has the full rights to her earnings and property. A husband is well advised not to meddle with his wife’s property, because he does not have any claim to it. He must still support his wife and look after her, providing all she needs of food, clothes and housing. She does not have to spend anything on the family home.
Having said this, I should add that nowadays many married couples work, and the wife’s work leads to extra family expense, such as extra transport, nursery fees for young children, help with housework, etc. It is right, therefore, that the woman pays a share of the family expense, which should at least offset the extra expense they incur. What is left is her own property and her husband cannot have a claim to it.
Regrettably, some husbands use the traditional status given to them by their local culture and try to impose their will on their wives and take away all, or most of their salaries. If they do, they are committing a sin. A husband cannot take any portion of his wife’s money without her full agreement. He does not have any say as to how she uses it. Take the example given by our reader. The woman wants to help her parents but her husband objects. How absurd! If she helps her parents, she will be dutiful, earning God’s pleasure and reward. All sons and daughters are required by God to be kind to their parents. Now her husband objects to her kindness to them. By doing so, he is not only making an absurd claim; he is committing aggression against her rights. He should fear God and leave her to do what she wants. They can make reasonable arrangements for their own family, but what is left of her salary is her own property and he has nothing to do with it.
Undivided Inheritance
Q. My wife’s father died in 1979, leaving behind his wife, one son and two daughters, but no other heirs. Her mother died about ten years ago, and her brother a few months back. At the time of his death, her brother was a widower, but he had 3 sons and 3 daughters. No inheritance has been divided, and there is a house still registered in my wife’s father’s name. Please advise on the division of this inheritance.
AK
A. The Prophet emphasized that inheritance should be divided among the heirs without delay. Delay causes problems, and these could lead to long running disputes between brothers and sisters. Many families think it is better to keep things running as they were during the lifetime of a parent, particularly when there is a business that brings income to the family. Yet such thoughts are wrong. It is still possible to keep the business running, with each of the heirs knowing exactly what his or her share is and the amount of income they receive from the business. Without division some heirs lose their rights, and they often begin to nurse a long lasting ill feeling towards their close relatives. Hence the Prophet’s advice: “Divide the inheritance even though it may be only a tooth stick, or a miswak.”
Be this as it may, it is important in the case we are looking at to divide the inheritance without further delay, because there are now secondary heirs, i.e. the son’s children. If it is not divided, someone’s rights might be lost and this will land the whole family into problems. Fortunately, the case is not too complicated now, but it could become so if left undivided for much longer. The father’s estate should have been divided in the following manner: one-eighth to his widow, and the rest to his children, divided into four shares: two for the son and one each for the two daughters. The mother’s estate should be divided among her children in four shares: one to each daughter and two to her son. This assumes that at the time of her death, the mother also had no other heirs, such as either of her parents who might have survived her.
Since the mother’s inheritance follows the same lines, this means that when she died, the house, as well as any other money or property left by either parent, belonged to your wife and her sister and brother, with each of the two women taking one quarter and their brother taking one half.
As your wife’s brother died, his inheritance should go to his six children. It should divide into nine shares, with each son taking two shares and each daughter taking one share. This applies to all his estate, including half the house he inherited from his parents.
This means that the ownership of the house left by your father-in-law is: one quarter to your wife, and one quarter to her sister. The other half belongs to her brother’s children divided between them on the above lines: two shares for each son and one for each daughter.
