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Q. And lastly, more and more Muslim brothers are marrying and cannot afford to support a wife. Their families either become a ward of the government or they experience a life of meagre subsistence. In fact we know of one sister whose husband was injured on his job. he was awarded a small sum of money on monthly basis by the government. The money is not enough to maintain his family. Yet! although he is not disabled to the point where he cannot work he refuses to look for a job to bring in additional income to support this family. He claims he is doing Allah’s work since he is out to invite every person he meets to embrace Islam and will not withdraw from Allah’s work for the Dunya. Whose duty is it, then, to support his family? Or can the sister request a divorce based on her husband’s inability to support this family.
(Ibid)

A. Every Muslim is duty bound to earn livelihood for himself and for the dependent members of his family. This is not a mundane duty only, but it is a religious obligation also. The Holy Prophet ( Sallaho Alaihai Wasallam ) has said:

“To earn the lawful livelihood is a religious duty after the religious obligations (like prayers, fasting etc.)

Since the dependent members of his family are entitled to get maintenance from a Muslim head of the family, he cannot avoid his economic responsibilities on the pretext that he is engaged in religious work. He should provide his family with their necessary economic requirements and then he can devote the rest of his time to the work of Tabligh. If he fails to discharge his duty in this respect and the wife has no other source of livelihood, she can approach a Muslim court for the dissolution of her marriage from her husband who does not give her the proper maintenance.

Q. “Secondly, I see Muslims who save money to buy houses, cars, vacation packages, send their children to the best colleges, and afford the most elaborate Valimahs yet when Allah sends his angel of death to retrieve their souls there is no money in their savings account to pay for their funeral expenses. In fact most of the Muslims I have spoken to seem to believe it is the duty of the Ummah to bury its brother or sister or child in Islam. Is this true? Are we not asked to save for our funeral expenses? ”
(Ibid)

A. This is not correct. The Muslims have been advised by the Shari’ah not to be invoved in any ind of extravagance. More- over, the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) has advised the Muslims that instead of spending all their money in their life-time, they should leave a substantial part of it for their inheritors, so much so that they cannot make any will for charitable purposes in excess of 1/3 rd of their property. The Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) while explaining this rule of Shari’ah, has observed in the following words :

“To leave your inheritors well-off is better than leaving them in proverty looking to the hands of others.” (Bukhari)

Therefore, one should never presume that it is the duty of Muslim brothers to bear the expenses of his burial etc., and he should be spend whatever he has in his life time. The Muslim people are required to pay the burial expenses only when a person has died in a state of poverty leaving nothing behind. But it does not mean that one should exploit this obligation of the Muslims for his extravagance or his lavish expenditure during his life time.