An Islamic Legal hermeneutics on Nafāqah during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Those who work and earn money in the public sphere are obliged to find alimony and provide a living (nafāqah). The assumption that has been believed by the Muslim society is that alimony is a man's duty (husband to wife, father to family). This assumption has been influenced by several factors such as language construction, state policies and the normative religious understanding. During the Covid-19 pandemic, this one-sided assumption has not only continued discriminatory for women and kept them away from such fair and equal economic access, but also it has tended to take Muslim families’ economy into the risks. This article aims to examine the complexities of working women position in the Islamic legal jurisprudence and provide an alternative narrative of Islamic legal hermeneutics ensuring that the livelihoods do not become the domain of men alone. Accordingly, it can be argued that the alimony might be considered to become the obligation of both men and women equally. Interviews with a number of women at the grassroots level prove that women are being able to play roles in earning a living.