The issue of a woman’s disposal of her wealth; does she have the right to dispose of it without her husband’s permission?

The questioner : In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. The issue of a woman’s disposal of her wealth; does she have the right to dispose of it without her husband’s permission?

The Shaykh : The authentic hadith of the Messenger (peace be upon him) regarding this is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . And what may be relied upon from the hadiths of some women disposing of charity, for example, without the knowledge of their husbands; this does not mean that it was done without the husbands’ permission first. And if it happened that it was so, then this is like any matter that was on the original principle, which is permissibility, until a new ruling came and lifted that principle. And in my opinion, it is not appropriate to cite this hadith for specific incidents that occurred during the time of the Messenger (peace be upon him) of which we do not know first whether they came after this hadith and abrogated it, or— for example— what we say did not abrogate it entirely, but clarified that "la" (no) is not for absolute negation, but for negating perfection, as some hadiths are interpreted on this basis.
But in my opinion, the original understanding of this hadith, like others, is to be taken at its apparent meaning: it is not permissible, it is not permissible, not for dislike, but for prohibition. So if it is established that a woman disposed of her wealth during his time (peace be upon him), then either this was before this legislation, or the woman was permitted by her husband to dispose of her wealth, within limits that the couple may have agreed upon.

The questioner : The hadith, Your Eminence, says: authentic.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : Is it authentic due to multiple chains, or authentic in itself?

The Shaykh : No, as I recall, it is good in itself and authentic through other chains.

The questioner : Well; do you not see that it conflicts with the general concept of the Qur’anic and hadith texts that give the woman freedom of ownership and disposal?

The Shaykh : Like what?

The questioner : The texts that give her ownership and disposal of her wealth generally; does she own or not own by the texts of the Qur’an?

The Shaykh : Meaning, what we have is that she owns, so she is the owner of her wealth, and it is not permissible for anyone else to dispose of her wealth except with her permission, by gift or donation or charity. So if we take this previous hadith, it does not mean that we did not give the woman ownership of her wealth, no, but as a life partner with this husband, it is not appropriate for her to be independent in her disposal of this wealth, the least that can be said about it is that if she dies, the legal heirs inherit it; because she is the owner of it. So the fact that the woman— may Allah bless you— is the owner of the wealth does not imply that she should dispose of it without her husband’s permission. The matter in this is exactly as it is not permissible for the girl to marry herself, but rather with the permission of her guardian, just as the guardian of her affairs, as he does with regret, obstructs her; then the legal judge intervenes and takes charge of her matter and marries her to one she approves of as a husband, on the condition that he is a suitable match. So likewise, if we assume a woman has wealth and we assume her husband is a disposer who is tyrannical over her and prevents her from disposing of her wealth by the lawful means; then she raises her matter to the legal judge and the problem is solved. And the issue in reality, were it not for customs and traditions and some known sectarian opinions, naturally on the basis that the woman has absolute freedom of disposal of her wealth, the construction of this hadith would be part of organizing marital life, with no problem at all. And especially if we look at the nature of women in general, and more specifically if we look at women today... if freedom of disposal of wealth is attributed to them, they fall into extravagance, waste, and squandering of wealth; so what prevents the Messenger (peace be upon him), by revelation from Allah— Blessed and Exalted is He— from looking far ahead and passing this condition? If the couple are in agreement as is assumed, this text will not be a cause of difficulty between them. But if the husband is tyrannical, stubborn, and unjust, the solution to the problem then is like the solution to the problem of one who obstructs his daughter.

The questioner : The statement of prohibition, you know its status, of course, in the Shari’ah?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : The statement of prohibition, you know its status in the Shari’ah?

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : And what it requires of strong evidence with the objections and so on; so it is not permissible to interpret the hadith as a wrong disposal, a disposal that should not be; meaning, is it not derived by its derivation to another derivation?

The Shaykh : We return and say: you, O Arabs, and we are from you, we learn the language from you, ; bring it and make me understand so we can see what we can benefit from you, how do you interpret this?

The questioner : The conflict with the general texts and the disposal, or as you kindly explained, there are many cases where they disposed of by giving charity, selling, buying, and others; meaning, this is something that exists?

The Shaykh : No, we are not talking about what exists, but we are talking about what is missing, which should exist instead of this existing thing.

The questioner : Then the hadith... the level of its meaning, meaning it needs to be opposed to the other texts to be at their level, it is known that opposition is... in the acceptable, as they say.

The Shaykh : You— may Allah bless you— are still without blame because I have lived thus openly... you are still claiming and making the claim the evidence, we want the evidence. The first thing you mentioned was ownership, we said this does not negate the benefit for the woman, she owns; but it is not permissible for her to dispose of it except with the consent of her life partner; so where is the evidence that it is permissible for her to dispose of it without her husband’s permission?

The questioner : And the texts that came regarding disposals, do they not conflict with this?

The Shaykh : This has been answered previously, may Allah bless you.
...

The questioner : ... I remember a proof, but we need it to be accompanied by permission, even if it is like the freeing of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) for Barira, but this means as if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave her permission.

The Shaykh : You answered yourself, and praise be to Allah, but I am reminding you of a proof.

Another questioner : ... remaining question and I took five.

The Shaykh : How?

Another questioner: I sayThe Shaykh : Abdullah preferred the question for another, but... "everyone laughs".

Another questioner : Participating in what passed, I did not start, I did not start but participating in what passed, I liked to clarify "everyone laughs".

The questioner : When the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was receiving charity from the Muslims, the women used to give charity...?

The Shaykh : ... but— also— the answer has been given previously; do you not remember that we mentioned that if there are hadiths indicating that some women used to dispose of things on their own, I answered with two answers; either this was before the coming of "it is not permissible"; this hadith, or it was with prior permission, even this exists... .

The questioner : Does he do a delegation, meaning?

The Shaykh : Yes?

The questioner : He does a delegation.

The Shaykh : Yes, this exists.