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In Europe, the government gives financial help to refugees, 400 euros for a single man, and if there is a couple, each of them receives 350 euros. This is based on the idea that this amount is sufficient for a person to live a reasonable life for one month, and the amount of 700 euros will be sent to the account of one of them. My question is: does the husband have the right to take this money and spend it and dispose of it freely, or is the wife entitled to take 350 euros for herself, and is the husband obliged to spend on her from the 350 euros that are allocated to him?
Praise be to Allah.
I put this question to our shaykh, ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Barrak (may Allah preserve him) and he said:
[The government] that granted this assistance gave this amount to both of them to cover the expenses of both of them, because they are a married couple. Therefore they both own the money that is given to them to meet their needs as a married couple. Therefore neither of them has the right to take his own share to the exclusion of the other.
Based on that, they should spend on themselves as a couple from this money, then if any of it is left over, they may divide it equally between themselves. End quote.
And Allah knows best.