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What is the ruling on a wife spending on the household and its expenses after her husband has ceased providing for her and has financially favored his other wife, and is this spending considered Sadaqah (charity) or Zakat?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The husband must spend on his wife and cover the various household expenses if he is able, as Allah Almighty says: "Let the man of means spend according to his means," and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "It is enough sin for a man to neglect those he is responsible to feed." If the wife does so seeking reward from Allah, then Allah will not let her effort go to waste, as Allah Almighty says: "And whatever good you do, Allah is knowing of it." Similarly, lending to the husband contains much good, but what the wife spends does not take the place of her obligatory Zakat.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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