What is the Sharīʿah's opinion on a husband's request to his first wife to transfer to him the financial amount she receives from the government, claiming that Islam does not permit a woman to take money directly, while he did not make the same request to his second wife, who was receiving the amount before he married her?

The basic principle is that a wife's money is her own, whether it comes from her business, inheritance, dowry, or a grant from the state. It is not permissible for the husband to take from it except with her consent and her good will. The husband's statement that Islam does not allow women to take money directly from the government has no basis in Islamic law, as women and men are equal in this regard. Therefore, the money the wife receives from the state is her private property, and it is not permissible for her husband to seize it. It is also not permissible for the husband to take his wife's money except with her consent, based on the Almighty's saying: (O you who have believed, do not consume one another's property unlawfully except that it be [through] trade by mutual consent from you) and His saying: (And give women their dowries as a free gift, but if they are pleased to give you some of it, consume it with pleasure and ease). The wife's maintenance is obligatory upon her husband according to his means and ability, and he is not to burden her with her own expenses, even if she is wealthy, except with her consent.