The Rights of Husband and Wife

this regard, the woman can receive it through the court. The amount of maintenance will, however, be fixed in relation to the man’s means. If his income is low, the amount of maintenance will be reduced, and if it is high, the rate of maintenance will go up. PROPER BEHAVIOR Man has been bound at all events to treat women kindly: Live with them on a footing of kindness and equity. If ye take a dislike to them it may be that ye dislike a thing and God brings about through it a great deal of good.9 This shows that man has been bound to behave gently with women not only in pleasant, but also in unpleasant circumstances. This is an absolute injunction applying to all situations. A man has to be kind to his wife, whether or not she is to his liking. The injunction on gentle behaviour with women is so important that this is held to be the essential condition for having more than one wife. That is the permission to have more than one wife is given only to those who can treat all of them with perfect justice. The Qur’an says: “But if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one.”10 The Qur’anic injunction of “gentle behavior”11 covers all those things human nature demands, and whatever is considered necessary, by reason or by the shari’ah. This fair treatment is considered so important in Islam that the Prophet said: “The best among you is one who is best for his family.”12 THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A WOMAN AS A WIFE How should a woman or a wife live with her husband? This has been instilled into the woman by nature itself. If a woman is of a really serious cast of mind, her inner nature will suffice to guide her in this matter. This has been expressed in the following verse of the Qur’an: Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband’s) absence what God would have them guard.13 The responsibilities of woman as regards man described by the Qur’an and sunnah are in complete accord with this feminine nature. If a woman’s nature is alive and she wishes to lead her life as a realist, she will not find any strangeness in the teachings of Islam; rather she will accept them as if they were the voice of her own heart. Here I would present these teachings of Islam in brief under different headings. OBEDIENCE The Qur’an says that “the righteous women are devoutly obedient.”14 The word qanitat (obedient women) has been interpreted by ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas as meaning women who