Who is obligated to provide maintenance for a female slave's (Amah) wife if her husband is free?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Maintenance (Nafaqāt)
Primary text
If the husband of a female slave is free, the maintenance is obligatory upon him due to explicit text and the consensus of scholars regarding the obligation of wives' maintenance upon their able-bodied husbands, as the slave wife falls under this general ruling. Maintenance is due because she is a wife who permits access to herself, thus requiring her husband to maintain her, just like a free woman.
Supporting text
There is a narration from Malik stating that the slave husband does not owe maintenance because maintenance is a form of mutual support (muwasah), and the slave is not qualified for it, just as he does not owe maintenance for his relatives or pay Zakat. However, the main view holds that maintenance is compensation due in marriage, obligatory upon the slave like the dowry (Mahr), and is due in exchange for allowing cohabitation.