Fath al-Rabbani

Benefits: … By “counting and giving” is meant giving charity of something insignificant, that is, a Muslim should spend generously for the sake of Allah. This is an extremely important issue: can a woman dispose of wealth and property without her husband’s permission or not? First, consider some other ahadith:

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Amr radi Allahu anhu that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((إِذَا مَلَکَ الرَّجُلُ الْمَرْأَۃَ، لَمْ تَجُزْ عَطِیَّتُھَا إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِہٖ۔)) “When a man (through marriage) becomes the owner of a woman, it is not permissible for her to give a gift (to anyone) without his permission.” (Abu Dawud: 1/110, al-Nasa’i: 1/352, Sahihah: 2571)

Sayyiduna Abu Umamah Bahili radi Allahu anhu reports that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said in his sermon during the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage: ((لَاتُنْفُِِق اِمْرَأَۃٌ شَیْئًا مِنْ بَیْتِ زَوْجِھَا اِلَّا بِاِذْنِ زَوْجِھَا۔)) It was asked: O Messenger of Allah! Not even food? He sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((ذٰلِکَ مِن اَفْضَلِ اَمْوَالِنَا۔)) “A woman should not spend anything from her husband’s house except with his permission.” Someone asked: O Messenger of Allah! Not even food? He sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: “That is among our best (and most valuable) property.” (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas radi Allahu anhuma that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((لَا تَصَدَّقُ الْمَرْأَۃُ مِنْ بَیْتِ زَوْجِھَا اِلَّا بِاِذْنِہٖ۔)) “A woman should not give charity from her husband’s house except with his permission.” (al-Mu‘jam al-Awsat of al-Tabarani, and in it is Rashidin ibn Kurayb whom Ahmad and a group declared weak, but it has supporting narrations)

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhu reports that the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((وَمَا أَنْفَقَتْ مِنْ کَسْبِہٖمِنْغَیْرِ أَمْرِہٖفَاِنَّنِصْفَأَجْرِہٖلَہٗ۔)) “When a woman spends from her husband’s earnings without his order, she gets half the reward.” (Bukhari, Muslim, and the wording is his)

The way to reconcile these ahadith is as follows: those ahadith in which a woman is permitted to spend without her husband’s permission refer to insignificant things that are commonly given in charity, or in cases where the wife has a strong presumption that the husband would also be pleased. Similarly, if the husband is very harsh and miserly, then for his benefit, his wife is allowed to spend a little, as is evident from hadith number (3628). If neither of the above two cases applies, then in every situation the woman should first seek her husband’s permission.

On this subject, Shaykh al-Albani rahimahullah has presented a beautiful discussion, which we reproduce here for the benefit of the readers: You should know that some of the Salaf acted upon this hadith, as Imam Tahawi rahimahullah has clarified in (Sharh al-Ma‘ani: 2/403), and Imam Ibn Hazm rahimahullah has mentioned in (al-Muhalla: 8/310–311) the names of Sayyiduna Anas ibn Malik, Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah radi Allahu anhuma, Imam Tawus, Imam Hasan, and Imam Mujahid rahimahumullah. Furthermore, he said: “This is also the view of Layth ibn Sa‘d rahimahullah; he did not consider it permissible for a wife to dispose of property without her husband’s permission, except for insignificant things, which are necessary for maintaining ties of kinship or seeking closeness to Allah.”

Imam Ibn Hazm rahimahullah mentioned the opinions of other scholars and also discussed their evidences. He himself holds the view that a wife may dispose of her own personal wealth without her husband’s permission. He presented some authentic ahadith in support of his position, such as the hadith of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas radi Allahu anhu that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in his Eid sermon, commanded women to give charity, and they complied by placing their rings and bangles, etc., in the garment of Sayyiduna Bilal radi Allahu anhu.

I (al-Albani) say: In the ahadith mentioned by Ibn Hazm, there is no evidence for his position, because they pertain to specific incidents and do not contradict the following and other ahadith of this chapter:

The Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said: ((إِذَا مَلَکَ الرَّجُلُ الْمَرْأَۃَ، لَمْ تَجُزْ عَطِیَّتُھَا إِلاَّ بِإِذْنِہٖ۔)) (Sahihah: 2571) … “When a man (through marriage) becomes the owner of a woman, it is not permissible for her to give a gift (to anyone) without his permission.”

Consider for yourself the hadith of Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Abbas radi Allahu anhu, in which Eid is mentioned; it is clarified therein that the women gave charity in compliance with the command of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. If it is assumed that they did not have permission from their husbands to give charity, or even if we accept that their husbands had forbidden them, but when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam gave them a direct command on a specific occasion, they complied with that Prophetic command. Now, can any rational person say that the restriction of the husbands takes precedence over the command of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? The reality is that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did indeed prohibit women from giving charity without their husbands’ permission, but when he sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, due to a particular circumstance, issued a command for them to give charity, that command is to be given precedence over the husbands’ prohibition, even though there is no evidence that their husbands had forbidden them. The reality is that the position adopted by Imam Ibn Hazm may be excused by saying that, in his view, those ahadith which make the charity and donations of wives conditional upon their husbands’ permission do not reach the level of authenticity; otherwise, the Imam would have immediately acted upon them, because they contain a specific and additional ruling, which is absent from the ahadith he cited. However, he declared the hadith of ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb from his father … defective on the basis that this sahifah is disconnected, whereas according to Imam Ahmad and the majority of hadith scholars, the sahifah of ‘Amr ibn Shu‘ayb is connected. Then Ibn Hazm said that if this hadith is proven authentic, it should be considered abrogated; this has already been answered, and secondly, how can it be that the particular abrogates the general, or the partial abrogates the whole? Those who desire conformity with the civilizations of the disbelievers and the so-called Muslims who debate women’s rights in Islam are heedless and ignorant of the ahadith that indicate this subject. The reason is not that, from an academic perspective, the madhhab of Ibn Hazm is preponderant in their view; rather, they wish to bring the guidance of Islam closer to Western culture. One aspect of this is that a woman should have independent disposal over her wealth. But these poor souls should know that these evidences will not benefit them in the least, because they even allow a woman to dispose of the wealth of others, to marry without the permission of her guardians, and to make others her confidants and protectors. Our Allah has spoken the truth: {وَلَنْ تَرْضٰی عَنْکَ الْیَہُوْدُ وَلَا النَّصَارٰی حَتَّی تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَہُمْ} (Surah al-Baqarah: 120) … “The Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their religion.” (Sahihah: 2571)