Historical Analysis of Shaykh Tusi’s Role in the Customization of Wife’s Maintenance

On the second day of winter 2024, a session entitled Historical Analysis of Shaykh Tusi’s Role in the Customization of Wife’s Maintenance was held in the Women’s and Family Affairs Jurisprudence Group, hosted by the Center for Contemporary Jurisprudence Studies.

This session was attended by Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Mahdi Davud Abadi (Secretary of the Session), Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Majid Dehqan (Presenter), Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Bustan, and Ms. Maryam Burqe’i (Critic).

This meeting was held with the presence of Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Mahdi Davud Abadi (Secretary of the meeting), Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Dr. Majid Dehqan (Presenter), Hujjat al-lslam wa al-Muslimin Bustan and Ms. Maryam Burqe’i (Critic).

At the beginning of this meeting, Dr. Davud Abadi proposed a brief discussion from the scholars’ point of view on the issue of wife’s maintenance (customary maintenance and minimum maintenance) and invited Dr. Dehqan to present his material.

After congratulating Lady al-Zahra’ (peace be upon her) on her birthday and the arrival of Women’s Day, Dr. Dehqan made some references to the position of Shaykh al-Tusi’s extensive book in Shi’i jurisprudence.

He continued by stating that what is mentioned in our narrations as maintenance is only food and clothing, and housing is added because the issue of obedience is related to those two items, and the result is that in our period of narrational jurisprudence and in our period of fatwa jurisprudence before Shaykh al-Tusi, maintenance is limited to these three items.

In his extensive book – which is known as the first detailed jurisprudence book – Shaykh al-Tusi sought to demonstrate the capacity of Shi’i jurisprudence in responding to the issues of the day in society and to remove the accusations that the al-Sunneh (the limited nature of the subject and the failure to respond to the needs of society) expressed.

In the following discussion, some points were raised about the similarities and differences between this book and the book of Al-Hawi Kabir Mavardi (Shafi’i jurisprudence). These two books are similar in terms of evidence, presentation of evidence, issues, etc., but they differ in terms of brevity, the method of ijtihad and issuing fatwas, and the type of al-Shi’ah and al-Sunneh attitudes.

Then, by stating the difference in the issue of maintenance before and after Shaykh al-Tusi, he points out how the Shi’i community after him dealt with this book – because the Shaykh ignored Shi’i evidence in this book and sometimes did not present it at all, and on the other hand, he examined all ahl al-Sunneh evidence. Finally, he ends his speech by mentioning the opinions of a number of scholars after Shaykh al-Tusi and the methods of collecting narrations.

After Dr. Dehqan’s presentation, Ms. Maryam Burqe’i (critic and member of the Scientific Council of the Women’s and Family Jurisprudence Group of the Center for Contemporary Jurisprudence Studies) raised a few questions regarding the completion of this presentation:

1.What were the characteristics of Shaykh al-Tusi’s era in terms of ijtihad methodologies?

2.What were the socio-political conditions of the Shi’is in the Shaykh’s era?

3.What is meant by custom in the Shaykh’s statements?

4.What is the harm of Shaykh al-Tusi’s method by abandoning the Imamiyyah narrations?

5.Is the call of the Shari’ah in narrations that mention individuals for the subject an example or an exclusivity?

6.Can alimony be interpreted as a wife’s need or not?

At the end of this meeting, Hujjat al-lslam Bustan concluded the meeting by stating that the issue of wife’s alimony can be examined from the perspective of social jurisprudence and, according to this perspective, issues such as the desired economic model for women, their acquisition of wealth, and employment can be addressed.