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Fatwa CenterImprisoned husband is obliged to provide for his wife and child
Question
In Islam, imprisonment of husband, is he liable to pay maintenance of child and wife?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
It is obligatory upon the husband to spend on his wife and child. This ruling applies to the imprisoned husband like other husbands. If he cannot afford to spend on them, then he is like all other husbands, i.e. his wife has the right to raise the matter to an Islamic judge and seek separation from him due to that, and if she wants to be patient with him, then she can do so. Ibn Qudaamah 
said: “In conclusion, if a man does not spend on his wife for him being insolvent and cannot find what he may spend on her, then the wife has a choice between being patient with him or separating from him.” [End quote]
Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: “If the wife is adversely affected by her husband’s failing to have intercourse with her, this permits annulment of the marriage in all cases, whether the husband did that deliberately or not, or whether he was able to have intercourse or not. The same applies to the wife's maintenance, and it is permissible with greater reason to annul the marriage in case of Eelaa' (a husband swearing not to have sexual intercourse with his wife and refusing to approach her) according to the consensus of scholars. Accordingly, the ruling of the captive and the imprisoned and those whose wives cannot benefit from them, if their wives seek separation from them, is the same like the ruling of the wife of the missing husband according to the consensus of the scholars.” [End quote]
There is another issue stated by the Shaafi‘i scholars, that is if the wife was the reason behind the imprisonment of her husband without a right cause, then she will have no right to maintenance. Tuhfat Al-Habeeb ‘Ala Sharh Al-Khateeb (a Shaafi‘i book) reads: “If the wife is the reason for the imprisonment of her husband with a right cause, then she will have the right upon her husband (if possible) to spend the night with her like with his other wives and to maintenance, and if it was with no right cause, then she will not deserve such rights because she is the reason behind preventing them.” [End quote]
This is related to the maintenance of the wife when the husband cannot afford to spend on her.
As for spending on the child, then if the husband is insolvent and the mother can afford it, she should spend on her child and she has the right to ask the husband to compensate her for what she has spent when he becomes solvent. Fat-h Al-Qadeer (a Hanafi book) reads: “If the child has a rich mother, then she should spend on him; however, she has the right to ask him (the insolvent father) later to compensate her for that. If she is pleased with that and does not ask him to compensate her, she will surely be rewarded for that and it is actually of her good character and noble manners.” [End quote]
For more benefit, kindly refer to Fataawa 168551 and 82847.
Allaah Knows best.
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