Maintenance of the mother and the wife

Question

Question: If a person can earn daily only so much that it is not sufficient for the maintenance of his mother and his wife, which becomes wajib upon him in this case: the maintenance of the wife or the maintenance of the mother?

Answer

The mother’s maintenance is conditional on the mother’s poverty and the son’s affluence. So if the mother is rich, or the son is not affluent but in straitened circumstances, the mother’s maintenance is not wajib upon him. The wife’s maintenance, however, is wajib in every case: it does not lapse because of the husband’s hardship or his affluence.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.