Wife Doing Household Chores

27-9-2003 | IslamWeb

Question:

I need to know what my duties as a wife are at my home. For example: is it an obligation on me to clean the house on my own and prepare the food?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that none is worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and messenger.

Muslim jurists have different opinions about the issue of a wife's duties towards her husband in light of common custom such as preparing food, tidying up the house, and so on. The dominant opinion is that it is her duty to do such things, since this is among the prerequisites of good company, complete intimacy, and proper cooperation.

This is what the companions' wives used to do, may Allah be pleased with them all, especially Faatimah may Allaah be pleased with her daughter of the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ). She used to work at her home and grind grains to prepare flour so much that her hands swelled because of the millstones; this was narrated in Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Muslim.
It was also authentically reported that Asmaa', daughter of Abu Bakr, may Allaah be pleased with both of them, said: “I used to serve Az-Zubayr (her husband) in all domestic affairs. He had a horse which I used to work on taming it, bringing forage for it, and taking care of it.

A Muslim woman has to take those great women as role model.

For more benefit on a wife doing household chores, please refer to Fatwa 86406, 352288, 341413, 361054 and 406489.

Allah knows best.

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