The Stance of Alimony or Maintenance for Working Wives within Working Period: An Analysis from the Qualified Jurists (Muftis)

Generally in Islam, the husband has the duty to provide maintenance to the wife. However, in this millennial era, many wives have established their own jobs and have their own sources of income. This led to confusion for the husbands over whether or not they should pay alimony for their working wives. This includes the maintenance for the wives during their working time. Hence, to resolve this confusion, this paper highlights two objectives. First, to identify the position of working wives in Islam. Second, to analyze the qualified jurists’ views on the wife’s maintenance during working period. To achieve the objectives of this study, data were collected using the library method for secondary data. While structured interviews were conducted with respondents consist of elected muftis. After that, these data were analyzed using content analysis method. This study found that Islam allows wife going out to work because there is no passage from the Quran and al-Sunnah that prevent the wife from working. This study also found that the husband is obligated to pay alimony to the wife works provided that she has the consent of the husband. However, the needs during working hours will individually become the responsibility of the wife. The husband is not obliged to provide it because the conditions for ihtibas kamil are not completely fulfilled. However, according to the respondents, the maintenance in this case can be discussed further with the tolerance of the husband.