How to Dispose of Money That a Person Has Forbidden for Himself

Question:
The listener Muhammad Hasan 'Asaydah sent a message containing a number of questions, one of which reads: My sister’s husband gave my wife a sum of money to help her with her livelihood, but he told his wife, and then his wife spread the news. My wife was upset by this action and forbade it. Do we have to return that money in that case, or how should we handle it? May Allah reward you with good.

Answer:
If she returns it, she must pay the expiation for an oath for having forbidden it. If she does not return it, there is no harm; this is to block the door to suspicion, to block the door to suspicion regarding this gift. If she returns it because there is no suspicion involved, she must pay the expiation for an oath for having forbidden it. The expiation is feeding ten poor people, or clothing ten poor people, each receiving half a sa' of dates or rice, meaning one and a half kilograms, or a garment such as a shirt, or an izar and a rida; this suffices for the prayer regarding her forbidding it, because this forbidding is equivalent to an oath. Yes.

The presenter : May Allah reward you with good.