About the fatwa

Date :

Tue, Apr 28 2015
Question

Wife’s duties towards her husband’s father

My husbands father has come to live with us because he has Alzheimers Disease.  It is creating alot of stress in our house.  
My question:  What exactly are my responsibilities toward him?

Answer
Answer

Praise be to Allaah. 

It is not obligatory for a woman to serve her husband’s father or mother, or any of his relatives. But it is the matter of chivalry and good manners, if she is in the house, to serve his parents. But with regard to forcing her to do that, it is not permissible for her husband to force her to do that, and it is not a duty upon her. What I suggest is that the wife should be patient in serving her husband’s father, and know that this will not do her any harm; in fact it will make her more noble and more loved by her husband. And Allaah is the Source of strength.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen /Fataawa al-‘Ulamaa’ fi ‘Ushrat al-Nisaa’ wa Hall al-Mushkilaat, 128