Is maintenance obligatory upon a person for his heirs, or vice versa, in cases of reciprocal inheritance potential?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Maintenance (Nafaqāt)
Primary text
Maintenance is obligatory upon the heir and not upon the person who would inherit from him in specific reciprocal kinship relations. This applies when one kin inherits from the other but the reverse is not true, such as a man regarding his paternal aunt or his cousin's daughter and sister's daughter, or a woman regarding her granddaughter by her daughter and her grandson by her daughter. Ahmad specified that a man owes maintenance to his paternal cousin's daughter but not to his sister's daughter. The soundest position is that the obligation follows the wording {And upon the heir is similar to that} (Quran 2:233), meaning maintenance is due from anyone who is an heir to the person needing maintenance. This means a man owes maintenance to his paternal aunt and his cousin's daughter and sister's daughter, but they do not owe maintenance to him. This is established because all these relatives are heirs to him in some capacity.
Supporting text
There is a view reported from our companions that maintenance is not obligatory upon the heir in these specific cases, stemming from Ahmad's comment that there is no maintenance for the paternal aunt or maternal aunt. However, Al-Qadi interpreted this specific ruling to apply only to the maternal paternal aunt, as the person would not inherit from her due to being her sister's son from the mother's side. Furthermore, Al-Kharqi stated that a man owes maintenance to his freed slave because the freed slave is his heir, even though the freed slave does not inherit from the one who freed him.