DOWER AND MAINTENANCE - III
We have mentioned the Islamic point of view regarding dower and its philosophy. Now let us take up the question of maintenance.
It should be kept in mind that like dower, maintenance also has a peculiar form in the Islamic law, and it should not be confused with the practice in the non-Muslim world.
Had Islam allowed man to engage woman to work for him and to appropriate her earnings, the reason why a husband has to maintain his wife would have been evident, for it is clear that if a man exploits another man (or an animal) economically he has to bear his (or its) expenses of life. If a coachman does not give fodder and barley to his horse, it will not carry a load for him.
But Islam has not allowed man to exploit woman. On the other hand, woman has a right to own property and to earn money, and a husband has no right to lay his hands on what belongs to his wife. At the same time, it is incumbent on him to meet the expenses of the family. He has to maintain his wife and children and to bear the expenses in connection with servants, the household etc. For what reason?
Unfortunately, people with a Westernised mentality are not prepared in the least to think over such things. They often repeat the same adverse remarks, in the context of Islamic law, which the Europeans justifiably make against their own legal system.
It is perfectly right to say that the maintenance of a wife in the West, up to the beginning of the 19th century, was a sign of the slavery of woman, because there the woman was bound to run the household of her husband gratis, without having any right of owning anything. Obviously in this case whatever food, clothing etc. was given to her was not different from the daily ration of a prisoner or the portion of fodder given to a beast of burden.
However, the case of Islam is quite different. It is a unique system in the world which absolves woman from administering the domestic life of man, gives her complete economic independence, and at the same time exempts her from making any contribution to the family budget. Here we have a different philosophy, which of course, requires our special consideration.
LAYING THE EUROPEAN WOMAN UNDER AN INTERDICTION UP TO THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Dr. Shayagan says: "The economic independence of woman which has been recognised by the Shiah law from the very beginning, did not exist in Greece, Roman, and Japan till recently in most of the countries. She, like a minor and a lunatic, was interdicted from entering into any transaction in respect of her property. In England, where formerly the personality of woman was completely merged with that of her husband, two laws were enacted, one in 1870 and the other in 1882 which removed the ban. In Italy a law, passed in 1919, removed the restrictions imposed on woman. The German Civil law of 1900 and the Swiss Civil law of 1907 gave woman the same rights as her husband had.
"However, the Portuguese and the French laws still impose a restriction on a married woman though the French law of 1938 has modified her position to a certain extent".
As you may observe, a century has still not passed since the first laws of woman's economic independence vis-a-vis her husband were enacted in England in 1882, and the so-called ban on married woman was removed.
WHY EUROPE SUDDENLY GAVE ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE TO WOMAN?
Now let us see how it happened that a century ago such an important event took place? Was the human conscience of the European suddenly awakened and they thus realised the injustice of their ways?
Will Durant in his book, 'Pleasures of Philosophy' answers this question. There we come across a shocking truth. We come to know that the European woman should in fact be thankful for her emancipation and for acquiring proprietary rights by her to the machines and not to any man. She should bow her head in reverence for the enactment and gratitude of the law of economic independence by the British Parliament, and not to the industrialists, who wanted to earn more profits and pay less wages.
Will Durant says: "The quick changes in the habits and customs, older than the history of Christianity, are explained only by the abundance and diversity of machines. The emancipation of woman is a by-product of the industrial revolution.
A century ago, it was very difficult for men in England to find jobs. But advertisements wanted them to send their wives and children to the factories. The employers were interested only in their profits and shares and did not bother themselves with ethics and morals. It was the patriotic industrialists of the 19th century who unconsciously conspired to disrupt the domestic life of people.
The first step towards the emancipation of our grandmothers was the law of 1882. According to it, the women of Great Britain became able to enjoy an unprecedented privilege. They were given the right to keep the money they earned with themselves. This law, representing high Christian and moral values, was enacted by the mill-owners in the House of Commons. Since that year the women have been liberated from the drudgery of household work, and have instead become involved in the drudgery of the stores and factories".
As you may observe, it was the industrialists and mill-owners of England, who, for the sake of their own material gains, took this step for the benefit of woman.
THE QUR'AN AND THE ECONOMIC INDEPENDENCE OF WOMAN
Islam, 1400 years ago, laid down the following law:
"Men have a portion of what they have earned and women have a portion of what they have earned" (Surah an-Nisa, 4: 32).
In this verse the Holy Qur'an has recognised the title of both men and women to the fruits of their labour.
In another passage the Qur'an says: "The men have a portion of what (their) parents and the kin left and the women have a portion of what (their) parents and the kin left." (Surah an-Nisa,4 :7)
This verse confirms the title of woman to her inheritance, which was not recognised by the pre- Islamic Arabs.
COMPARISON
The Holy Qur'an granted economic independence to woman thirteen centuries earlier than Europe, with the difference that:
(1) The considerations which motivated Islam were purely human, moral and divine. There did not exist any such motives as the greed of the mill-owners of England who, to fill their own bellies, passed a law and then proclaimed loudly through-out the world that they had officially recognised the rights of woman, and had established equality between man and woman formally.
(2) Islam gave equal rights to woman, but did not disrupt the basis of her domestic life, nor did it instigate the wives and daughters to revolt against their husbands and fathers. Islam brought about a great revolution, but did so calmly and safely.
(3) According to Will Durant all that the Western world did was to save woman from the drudgery of household work and to foist on her the drudgery in stores and factories. In other words, Europe opened one shackle and bound her hands and feet with another. Islam delivered woman from the slavery of man, in the house as well as in the field, and took off from her shoulders every obligation to meet her own or her family expenses. According to the Islamic point of view, she has every right to earn money, to keep it safe and to develop her wealth, but at the same time she should not be put under the pressure of the compulsions of life, which may ruin her beauty and vanity, which always go hand-in-hand with mental satisfaction.
But alas! The eyes and ears of some of our writers are so closed and blocked that they are unable to perceive the most obvious historical facts and philosophical truths.
CRITICISM AND ANSWER
A lady, criticising the law of maintenance, says that it requires a husband to provide food, clothing and shelter to his wife in the same way as an owner of a horse or a mule is required to provide fodder and shelter for his animal.
May we ask the critic how she has come to the conclusion that a husband owns his wife or that ownership is the reason why her maintenance has been made obligatory on him. What sort of ownership is this that the master cannot even ask his bondsmaid to give him a glass of water? What sort of ownership is this that whatever the bondsmaid earns belongs to her and not to her master? What sort of ownership is this that the bondsmaid can, if she likes, ask for wages for the slightest service done by her to her master? What sort of ownership is this that the master has no right to force his bondsmaid even to suckle his child, who is by the way her child also?
Secondly, is it a fact that a person whose expenses are borne by another person becomes a slave of the latter? According to the law of every country in the world, it is the responsibility of the father, or the father and mother both, to bear the expenses of the children. Can it be said that the children are owned by their parents? Islam has made it obligatory on the children to support their parents, if they are in need of pecuniary help. Does this mean that, according to Islam, the parents are owned by their children?
THREE KINDS OF MAINTENANCE
Islam recognises three kinds of maintenance:
(1) The person who owns animals has to maintain them. The basis of this kind of maintenance is ownership.
(2) Man has to bear the expenses of his children, if they are minors or if they are poor. Similarly, one has to maintain one's parents if they are poor. The basis of this kind of maintenance is not ownership. It is based on natural rights. The children have a natural claim on their parents, because they have brought them into this world. Similarly, the parents have a claim on their children, whom they begot. This kind of maintenance is conditional on need.
(3) A husband has to maintain his wife. The basis of this kind of maintenance is neither ownership nor any natural right in the above mentioned sense. Nor is it conditional on any need, pecuniary or otherwise.
Even if the wife happens to be a millionairess, having a very vast income, and her husband happens to be comparatively poor, it is still the duty of the husband to meet the family expenses, including the personal expenses of his wife. Another distinctive feature of this kind of maintenance is that, unlike the first two kinds, it is judicially enforceable. What is the basis of this kind of maintenance? We shall discuss this point in the next chapter.
