Family

Children are, no doubt, a beautiful gift from God to parents as initially they are not
capable to earn but can hold huge responsibilities in future, so parents have to look
after children and father has to maintain his children as well as wife under Muslim
family laws.
Muslim law is not codified and there is no specific provision regarding maintenance
of children but under Muslim law the term maintenance is denoted by “Nafaqah’’
which literally means ‘an amount spent by a person over his family’. As per many
Muslim scholars, maintenance includes things which are essential to lead a life:
food, clothing and residence. A person is ethically and religiously duty-bound to
provide the basic necessities of life to his family members as per Muslim Laws.
Islam prescribes the three grounds based on which one can claim maintenance
from a person. And these grounds are marriage, children and ownership of slaves.
Under the Muslim Law, one is entitled to claim ‘nafaqah’ or ‘maintenance’ if he or
she is a person’s:
 Wife
 Children
 Relatives such as parents, grandparents and others
 Slave

QUANTUM OF DETERMINATION OF MAINTENANCE
When we talk about quantum of determination of maintenance, it is not clearly
defined by any statute; it should be determined as per financial condition of the
father and needs of the child and in case of maintenance of a wife it should be
determined as per financial condition of husband and needs of her wife but usually
it is only determined according to the financial condition of the father/husband by
the courts under Muslim law. Under Muslim law, the husband/father’s liability is
fixed to maintain his children and wife (wives). A father is duty-bound to provide
maintenance to the following persons:
 His son until he hits adolescence;
 His unmarried daughter;
 His married daughter, if her husband is not in a position to maintain her;
 His major son, if he is disabled, lunatic or not in a position to maintain
himself.

As courts under Muslim Laws can determine the income of Husband/father via
record present on case file or can call evidence regarding the income of
father/husband and according to their income fix interim or final maintenance of
children or wife.
As per Muslim law, a father has no liability to take care of his children if they deny
living with him without any logical cause and so with the wife is if she is not living
with husband according to ordains prescribed by Allah Almighty she is not entitled
to get maintenance by her husband.
Conclusion
The laws on maintenance are different under Muslim Law and other personal laws.
The prime duty of man under Muslim Law is to look after his wife and Children and
blood relations with certain conditions.
Every person should be having knowledge about basic family laws and lawyers are
playing their vital role to make people aware of all these things.