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Fatwa CenterThe Rights of a Wife in Maintenance and of a Partner in Business
Question
Salam.
My husband and I built our businesses together before and after marriage. I worked until our daughter was born, then continued from home while prioritising her care. My earnings went into building our shared assets. Recently, my husband says Islam only obligates him to provide basic *nafaqah* (food, clothing and shelter), and anything beyond that (e.g. gym membership or other expenses) is merely his *ehsan*. Is this understanding correct according to Islamic teachings?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
We say at the outset: if you are a partner with your husband in the ownership of that company, then you own from it according to the extent of your share in it, and there is no relationship between your right as a partner in the company and your right upon him as a wife. It is not permissible for him to withhold your right in the company on the pretext that he provides for you as a wife — and we think this matter is clear and does not require lengthy elaboration or further grounding in evidence.
As for the wife's right upon her husband, she has a right upon him to financial support, housing, food, clothing, and good companionship in accordance with what is recognized as fair.
Allah the Exalted Says (what means): {Let a man of wealth spend from his wealth, and he whose provision is restricted let him spend from what Allah has given him} [Quran 65:7]
Al-Bukhari 
related that Hind Bint 'Utbah said: "O Messenger of Allah, indeed Abu Sufyan is a stingy man, and he does not give me what is sufficient for me and my child except what I take from him without his knowledge." So, He, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, said: "Take what is sufficient for you and your child, according to what is recognized as fair."
We have explained in previous fatwas that the financial support obligatory upon the husband for his wife and children consists of the following:
1. Suitable housing in which the sanctity, health, and dignity of the wife and children are preserved.
2. Suitable clothing that preserves their dignity and shields them from the harm of heat and cold — the kind worn by their peers among relatives and neighbors.
3. Suitable food that nourishes the body, wards off illness, and is what people ordinarily eat, without extravagance or stinginess.
4. Treatment and medicine that the wife and children need.
5. The costs of the children's education.
As for anything beyond that – such as the expenses the questioner mentioned, like the cost of going to a gym and similar things – this is not obligatory upon the husband. In fact, it is not even permissible for the husband to allow his wife to go to a gym, even at her own expense, if the gym involves any of the prohibited matters, such as mixing with men, music, or the uncovering of parts of the body that must be covered ('awrah).
Furthermore, Islam has urged the husband to spend on his household and has promised him reward for that, making clear that the husband is rewarded for the wealth that he spends on his wife and household, even if it is financial support that is not obligatory — as mentioned in the hadith:
"Indeed, you will not spend any expenditure seeking thereby the Face of Allah except that you will be rewarded for it, even that which you place in your wife's mouth." (Al-Bukhari)
And in the hadith narrated by Abu Hurayrah 
from the Prophet, sallallaahu`alayhi wa sallam, who said: "A dinar you spend in the path of Allah, a dinar spent on freeing a slave, a dinar given in charity to the poor, and a dinar spent on your family — the greatest of these in reward is the dinar you spend on your family." (Ahmad)
The commentators on this hadith said: "Spending on one's family is more general than obligatory or recommended [spending], and so it carries greater reward." (End of quote)
It is also among the wife's rights upon her husband that he treat her well, in accordance with what is recognized as fair, based on the words of Allah the Exalted (what means): {And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them — perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good} [Quran 4:19]
The meaning of "live with them in kindness" is: in accordance with what Allah has commanded of good companionship.
Allah knows best.
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