Is the husband required to pay maintenance (nafaqah) during the iddah period?

Yes — a husband is required to provide nafaqah (maintenance: housing, food, and reasonable living expenses) to his wife throughout her iddah, regardless of whether the talaq was revocable or final, based directly on Quran 65:6, which instructs husbands to house divorced wives during this period "according to your means." If the wife is pregnant, this obligation continues until she delivers, since her iddah itself extends that long.

In India, this area has additional legal texture: the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Danial Latifi v. Union of India (2001) interpreted the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 to mean a husband must make a "reasonable and fair provision" for his divorced wife's future — not merely pay maintenance limited to the iddah days themselves — and in 2024 the Supreme Court further confirmed that a divorced Muslim woman can also seek maintenance under the general maintenance provision now found in Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (which replaced Section 125 of the CrPC), regardless of her religion. This overlap between the religious nafaqah obligation and Indian statutory maintenance law is exactly the kind of situation where a family lawyer's input is genuinely necessary alongside religious guidance.

Source: Quran 65:6; Danial Latifi & Anr. v. Union of India (2001) 7 SCC 740; Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 (India); Section 144, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.