Maintenance (Nafaqah) and Gift (Hibah) and Their Effect on the Establishment and Extinguishment of Financial Rights - An Analytical Jurisprudential Study -

Abstract

This study concludes, based on the juristic texts examined, that distinguishing between obligatory maintenance (nafaqa) and gratuitous gift (hiba) is fundamental in determining the establishment and extinction of financial rights. Maintenance arises from a valid legal cause and ceases upon its disappearance, through payment, or by discharge; a wife’s maintenance becomes a debt once its due time passes unpaid, unlike the maintenance of relatives. A gift is a gratuitous transfer of ownership completed by delivery, through which ownership is established, though its stability depends on the absence of legal impediments. Financial rights in gifts may lapse through lawful revocation, transfer by a binding contract, loss of the property, or failure of delivery. In disputes, resolution follows the rules of evidence, since the issue concerns transfer of ownership rather than mere use.