Is it permissible for a woman to give charity from her own money without her husband's permission?

The questioner : The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and in the hadith he said: , and the hadith of the woman who gave the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) a cup of milk. Al-Nawawi, in reconciling these hadiths...

The Shaykh : What did the woman give?

The questioner : A cup of milk. Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) stated the permissibility of a woman giving charity from her own money by reconciling these texts. So, how is the first hadith reconciled with the other hadiths?

The Shaykh : First: I do not recall at this moment the woman offering a cup of water to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but it is one of the many actions of women established in the Sunnah, so it does not concern us to dwell on it now. Second: How is the reconciliation done? The question is directed to the one who transmitted this, from Al-Nawawi's commentary on Muslim. How is the reconciliation between women's disposal of their wealth and their giving of charity, and the first hadith? Is this a reconciliation, or is it a preference of one text over another, without reconciliation? Do you know?The questioner : Is the answer yes?

The questioner : It is not present.

The Shaykh : It is not present. I say this is not a reconciliation, but rather it nullifies the first hadith, which explicitly indicates that it is not permissible for a woman to dispose of her wealth except with her husband's permission. If we want to reconcile this hadith with the other hadiths in which women gave charity on one occasion or another, with their wealth in the presence of the Messenger (peace be upon him) or in his absence, the reconciliation is to say that the reconciliation is from several angles. The first angle: If the texts referred to, or others, were explicit in a woman disposing of her wealth without her husband's permission, which they are not, then that would have been before the prohibition of a woman disposing of her wealth without her husband's permission. This is because the rulings of the Shari'ah always come gradually, not all at once and suddenly. This is a known matter. Another known matter is that the Shari'ah, when it began with revelation to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), began with the important matters . In the early days of Islam, the detailed rulings were not present. Even khamr (intoxicants), whose harm is known by observation before the Shari'ah came to prohibit it, the Shari'ah did not rush to prohibit it at the beginning. It was not prohibited until after ten years and more in Madinah. So what was the ruling on khamr before the prohibition? It was on the original principle, which is permissibility. So if a hadith comes to us that so-and-so drank khamr, we interpret this text as his drinking in the early period before the prohibition. If a text comes to us that so-and-so from the Companions wore silk in the early period, and so on. So when a text comes prohibiting something, it means that this thing was not originally prohibited, but was permissible on the original principle. And so we say here that a woman's disposal of her wealth is the original principle. So when many texts come that women gave charity in the presence of the Messenger, and there is no room here for taking permission from their husbands, then the report indicates a woman's disposal without her husband's permission. We say, suppose that is the case, but this disposal was in the early period, meaning the period in which the hadith prohibiting a woman from disposing of her wealth without her husband's permission had not yet come. This is answer number one. Answer number two, and this is specific to the hadith of women giving charity in the presence of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Here we say something that may be beautiful, which is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is more worthy of the believers than themselves, by the text of the authentic hadith. So if the Messenger ordered them to give charity, and this order was after the Messenger's prohibition of women giving charity except with their husbands' permission, then his order takes precedence over the order of the husbands. This is a very clear answer. There remains answer number three, which covers all women's disposals of their wealth in the presence of their Prophet or in his absence (peace be upon him). That this can be understood in two ways. The first way is based on good opinion of the women, which is that they had taken permission from their husbands to dispose of their wealth within certain limits. For example, give charity with a dirham, a dinar, five, ten, according to the woman's situation of wealth, abundance, or poverty, and the like. This is if we understand the women's disposal in the good sense, and this is what is obligatory. And here is a point I hope you pay attention to, especially the one in front of me, who was with us in a previous hadith. It is possible that this disposal is from the category of ijtihad (independent legal reasoning) by one who is not permitted to do ijtihad. She says, "My husband prohibited me, but I see that there is a necessity here in such-and-such, and so on, there is no room for me to take permission from my husband, and so on." So it was ijtihad on her part, which is naturally a mistake, because ijtihad is not permissible where there is a text. It is not permissible for a woman to do ijtihad when her husband has prohibited her from something, and . This is the answer to this hadith. And thus it becomes clear that the reconciliation is like this, and not by nullifying or invalidating this hadith because of the other hadiths in which women disposed of their wealth, and there is no text explicitly stating that they took permission from their husbands.

The questioner : O Shaykh, do we pray here or in the mosque?

The questioner : O Shaykh, regarding the same issue...

The Shaykh : Allow me a moment. Is the mosque here near or far?

The questioner : Far, meaning a kilometer.

The Shaykh : A kilometer.

The questioner : We go by cars.

The Shaykh : By cars, I mean.

The questioner : There is room for everyone.

The questioner : We pray here, O Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Allow me a little. May Allah guide you. He wants to investigate.

The questioner : ... Our Shaykh, may Allah forgive them -they laugh-

The Shaykh : I want to say, can the adhan (call to prayer) be heard from here naturally?

The questioner : It is not heard.

The Shaykh : It is not heard.

The questioner : Through the speaker.

The Shaykh : Okay, let them consult among themselves. It is best that there is no chaos, with one person speaking without being given permission. What is the opinion of the brothers here regarding this issue? First, from the Shari'ah perspective, it is not obligatory for us to go to the mosque as long as we do not hear its adhan, the natural hearing. Second, we and the good among you, and may Allah bless us, we form a congregation and we can pray Jumu'ah (Friday prayer), even in a place that is not roofed, as some scholars stipulate that it is obligatory for the place to be roofed, meaning a mosque. This condition does not exist in the Book of Allah or in the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Rather, it is contrary to the saying of Allah the Exalted , and so on, the verse. And it is established with us that the Bedouins and nomads who follow the locations of pasture, grass, and water, they would settle in those places and pray Jumu'ah. And therefore, the only condition for the validity of Jumu'ah prayer is the congregation. As for the other conditions, they are all based on ijtihad and there is no evidence for them from the hadiths of the Messenger (peace be upon him). Yes, what do you think?

The questioner : Our Shaykh, according to your opinion.

The Shaykh : Okay, does anyone have an opinion we can benefit from?

The questioner : I have an opinion, O Shaykh. As long as the Shari'ah ruling has no harm in us praying here, we pray here.

The Shaykh : Please, prepare the place. Yes, what were we discussing?

The questioner : I say, regarding the same issue, something comes to mind. Can it not be said that between the two hadiths there is a general and a specific, so it is not permissible for a woman to dispose of her wealth except with her husband's permission, except in charity?

The Shaykh : No, there is not, because here "except with his permission," so the permission here was not mentioned. Otherwise, what is it? In most cases, she gives charity from such charity. Yes.