What are the maintenance obligations if the wife refers the matter of the missing husband to the judge and the judge sets a specific waiting period?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Waiting Periods ('Iddah)
Primary text
The wife receives maintenance during the waiting period set by the judge and during the subsequent waiting period (Iddah). Maintenance is due during the judge-set waiting period because her separation from the husband has not been definitively ruled, meaning she remains legally bound to him. Maintenance is due during the Iddah because the certainty of death (required for the Iddah of Widowhood) is absent. If after the Iddah she remarries or the judge separates them, her maintenance ceases because she has left the bond of his marriage. If she neither remarries nor is separated by the judge, her maintenance continues as she has not left his marriage bond. If the husband returns after this, her maintenance resumes from the moment of his return.
Supporting text
Ibn Umar and Ibn Abbas narrated that the wife of the missing person should wait four years. Ibn Umar stated she is maintained from the husband's wealth. Ibn Abbas stated that if this burdens the heirs, she should incur debt, recovering from the husband's wealth upon his return or from her inheritance share if he dies. They also stated that maintenance after the four years, during the Iddah (four months and ten days), is entirely from the husband's wealth.