Who is legally obligated to provide maintenance for a person lacking a father or grandfather?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Maintenance (Nafaqāt)
Primary text
Maintenance is obligatory upon every heir of the deceased, provided the preconditions for maintenance are met. This view is held by Al-Hasan, Mujahid, Al-Nakha'i, Qatada, Al-Hasan ibn Salih, Ibn Abi Layla, and Abu Thawr. This is supported by the narration regarding 'Umar, peace be upon him, who ruled that the paternal cousins (Asabah) must provide maintenance for a certain individual. The rationale is that maintenance is a form of sharing and assistance specific to kinship, thus it is restricted to the paternal residuaries (Asabah), similar to blood money ('Aql). For a nursing infant with no father or paternal grandfather, the ruling attributes maintenance and nursing wages to the male relatives, excluding the females. Maintenance rests upon the Asabah, according to a narration from Ahmad via Bakr ibn Muhammad.
Supporting text
The People of Opinion (Ahl al-Ra'y) state that maintenance is obligatory only upon a close, unmarriageable relative (Dhu Rahm Mahram), based on the verse: {And those of kin are nearer to one another in the Book of Allah} (Quran 8:75). Malik, Al-Shafi'i, and Ibn al-Mundhir maintain that maintenance is only due to the parents and their direct offspring (children and grandchildren), citing the Hadith where the Prophet, peace be upon him, instructed a man on spending on himself, his child, his family, and his servant, without mentioning others. Furthermore, they argue that the Law only specified maintenance for parents and children, and others cannot be analogized to them.