Fathwa, - Son's obligation to provide for his mother

Question
Assalamu alaykum, Dear Sheikh, My mother is living with my sister as
it is the tradition in our community. My mother is not willing to give
the inheritance share that belongs to me and is planning to give to my
sister. I had been providing monthly expenses to my mother. Is it
obligatory in Islam for me to give monthly expenses to my mother since
she did not give my right and is living with my sister who is well
off?.When my wife met with an accident, my mother did not lend any
help to us although I have two kids and we were suffering. There were
conflict between my wifeand mother prior to the accident. Considering
all this, please advise if it is obligatory to continue to provide
monthly expenses for my mother.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify
that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad,
is His Slave and Messenger.
If your mother is in need,then you are obligated toprovide for her.
Providing for her is not obligatory on you only; rather, it is
obligatory on every rich one of her children according to his/her
ability as we havepointed out in Fatwa 90246.
If the mother is not in need, then providing for her is not
obligatory, but treating her kindly is Islamically required in all
cases. However if you provide for her, even if she is not in need for
that, you will gain her pleasure and avoid her evil. Moreover, this
actually entails great goodness in this world and the Hereafter. The
Prophet, said: "The pleasure of the Lord is in the pleasure of the
parent and the anger of the Lord is in the anger of the
parent."]At-Tirmithi[
For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 92093.
As for what you have stated that she wants to prevent you from
pursuing your inheritance, then if you mean that she has bequeathed to
deny you the right to inherit, then it is an invalid will that should
not be carried out. But if she wants to distribute her estate in her
lifetime as a gift for her children, and she is completely sane and
not terminally ill, then it is permissible for her to do so on
condition that justice should be observed among them, i.e. it is not
permissible toprefer some of them overothers for no legitimate excuse.
For more benefit, kindly refer to Fataawa 124046, 159237and 94685.
As for the conflict between your mother and your wife, then this form
of conflict occurs frequently. Actually, if thetwo spouses adopt a
wiseapproach, they will be able to get over that problem and find a
suitable solution for it. It is incumbent upon the husband not to
favor his mother over his wife or vice versa. Rather, he should give
each her due.