A Woman’s Right to Dispose of Her Own Wealth

الذهب و الفضة

Question:

            

              A woman has wealth. Does her husband have the right to dispose of her wealth without her consent and permission?

Answer (Sheikh ʿAbdul Ḥamīd Kishk):

            The sublime religion of Islam has granted adult, sane, mature women absolute freedom to dispose of their wealth however they like, with their will alone and without any objection from anyone else, be it their husband or someone else. Whatever she owns she is free to sell, to give as a gift, to lend and to transfer from one place to another, regardless of whether her husband objects and with no need for his permission, because what has been affirmed in the Revealed Law of Islam and what is acted upon in all Islamic countries is that each individual, male or female, has sovereignty over his wealth as long as he is an adult and sane. It is not permissible for a husband to dispose of his wife’s wealth without her permission because he has absolutely no sovereignty over her wealth as long as she is an adult and sane.

[Translated from Fatāwā ash-Sheikh Kishk: Humūm al-Muslim al-Yawmiyyah (Cairo: al-Mukhtār al-Islāmī, n.d) p.57]