The Obligation of a Paternal Uncle to Provide Maintenance for a Child Due to the Father's Negligence: An Islamic Family Law Perspective

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the legal construction of a child’s maintenance obligation in Islamic jurisprudence when the father neglects his responsibility, as well as the limits, conditions, and legal implications of an uncle’s obligation on the mother’s side to provide such maintenance. This research employs a normative legal method that is qualitative descriptive-analytical in nature, using conceptual and statutory approaches, based on library research covering the Qur’an, hadith, fiqh literature, scholarly journals, and relevant legislation. The findings show that a child’s maintenance obligation fundamentally rests on the father due to the lineage relationship, and remains binding despite divorce as long as the father is financially capable. When the father neglects or is unable to fulfill this duty, fiqh opens space for relatives’ involvement through the concept of nafaqah al-aqarib, though its scope differs among schools: the Shafi’i school limits the obligation to usul and furu’ relations, the Hanafi school extends it to mahram relatives including uncles, while the Hanbali school bases it on inheritance relations. An uncle’s obligation is conditional, depending on four cumulative elements: the child’s need, the father’s neglect, a kinship relationship recognized by the school, and the uncle’s financial capacity. Implicatively, an uncle’s involvement functions as a mechanism to protect children’s rights rather than a permanent transfer of the father’s responsibility, indicating a need for further regulation within Indonesian Islamic family law.