An Islamic Jurisprudential (fiqhi) Study of the Limits of the Wife’s Alimony (Nafaqa) with Respect to Education and Healthcare Costs in the Views of Sunnis and Shiites

This paper seeks to determine the limits of the wife’s alimony (nafaqa) from the viewpoint of laws and Islamic Jurisprudence (fiqh). According to Arcle 17 of the Constuon of the Islamic Republic of Iran, in cases where the law is silent or brief on a parcular problem, the law should be extracted from fiqh. In Arcle 1107 of the Civil Code of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the cases of the wife’s alimony is enumerated by way of examples, but there is no explicit or even implicit statement about the limits of educaon and healthcare costs of a wife. Thus the law should be extracted from the reliable sources of fiqh. Examining the theories of both Shiites and Sunnis with respect to the alimony of the wife, I shall show that it is a significant issue in fiqh and laws, and besides cases such as food, clothes, and accommodaon which are maers of consensus, it includes cases of educaon and healthcare. However, there are disputes regarding such cases, but it is the view of most Islamic jurisprudents. Thus these costs count as the alimony of the wife, but not absolutely. It is worth nong that all alimonies of a wife, both absolute and condional, are condional on her observing tamkin (the wife’s submission or docility to her husband) ; otherwise she does not have the right of alimony.