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Do parents have any rights to the wealth of a married daughter?

Publication : 14-09-2001

Views : 58281

Question

Does a daughters wealth belong to her parents like a son's wealth belongs to his parents and should she spend on them in the same way?
Many people believe that once a daughter is married, she should not spend on her parents if her brothers are able to do this instead. Do husbands have rights over their wife's wealth, not to spend themselves but rather over where the wife should spend it and if they think it should not be on her parents then she should obey this request.
If noth parents are needy, and the wife has no wealth of her own, should the husband spend on both as the wife's parents are allowed to recieve zakaah from their daughter but the husband's parents are not as it is his duty to spend on them?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

Children (awlaad) is a general term which includes both males and females. The father has the right to dispose of his children’s wealth because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “You and your wealth belong to your father.” So if the father wants to take something from their wealth, he has the right to do that, so long as it will not cause them any harm; it is not permissible for him to take wealth from one of them and give it to another. 

If the parents are poor and the daughter has wealth surplus to her needs, then she has to spend on her parents in accordance with their needs, without failing to meet her own needs. The woman’s maintenance is obligatory upon her husband: he must spend on that which is essential for her maintenance. If the woman is working then her money is hers and hers alone, unless the husband stipulates the condition that he should get the money or some of it in return for her going out of the house and his missing out on some of his rights. But if she has enough money she can keep it for her own needs or for her children’s or parents’ needs. If she has brothers or sisters, and one of them takes care of spending on the parents, then the others are relieved of the obligation, and he will have the reward; or they can all agree that each of them will give a specific amount.  

The woman’s husband is not obliged to spend on her parents, unless it is the zakaah of his wealth. She, on the other hand, should not spend her zakaah money on them because that is an obligation upon her; rather she should give them money other than her zakaah. 

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Source: Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Jibreen