Her in-laws do not share the expenses of the house

13-10-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salam .. . I am married for a year now. and i am pregnant.we live in the house of my in-laws. with the brother n sister of my husband living in same house.. having their own family too. my husband is the eldest, alhamdulillah his been good to his parents and siblings. my concerned is, my husband spent for food and almost all the expenses in the house. only the electric bills shared with his brother. Alhamdulillah his brother had worked, and earning living for his family too. His sister receive monthly expenses from his husband working abroad but still don't want to share the expenses in the house.. even she have money she still asking money from my husband..or if have my money she spent all thinking she can ask money from my husband . sometimes i got angry, because all of the salary of husband goes in the house expenses only. i cannot even buy the things i needed and we don't have any savings for my coming delivery. I just want to ask.. is it unislamically if i got angry with my husband because of this? and it is fair for me as a wife what my sister in-law doing? even she have money she don't want to spend for their own food and other needs.. JaazakAllahu khair. hoping for your immediate response inshaAllah

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 ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

The jurists  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them stated that a husband is obliged to provide a separate accommodation for his wife and spend on her and her children in reasonable terms. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84608 and 85593.

Therefore, if your husband fulfills the obligation of providing an accommodation for you and spending on you and your (future) children, then he has indeed performed his duty.

The fact that your husband bears the expenses of the house while his brothers and sisters live in it and he pays the expenses, then it may be that he does so for a certain intention or a noble purpose, like being kind to the kinship, or that he knows their need while you do not.

In case your husband prevents you from any of your rights which you are entitled to, then you have the right to ask him for it. In case he refuses and you find that he has money, you are permitted to take from his money according to what is reasonable even without his knowledge as the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) advised Hind Bint ‘Utbah to do so with her husband Abu Sufyaan. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 85361.

On the other hand, there is a difference of opinion among the jurists  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them about whether or not the expenses of the wife’s delivery is an obligation on the husband; the view we consider to be the preponderant opinion is that the husband is obliged to meet these expenses. Al-Hattaab  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said in his book “Mawaahib Al-Jaleel”, which is one of the books of the Maaliki School of jurisprudence: “The book ‘Mukhtasar Al-Waqaar’ reads:….a husband is obliged to meet all the needs of his wife at the time of her delivery, like the fees of the midwife, whether she is still his wife or has been divorced.

In conclusion, if your husband fulfills what he is obliged to do towards you and his (future) children, then you are not right in being angry with him because of what he gives to his family. It might be that Allaah will bless him in his money, family and children due to that, so you should be careful.

Allaah Knows best.

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