After the termination of a divorced woman's iddat, whose duty is it to maintain her?

Answer

It is the duty of her adult sons. Those responsible for her maintenance are as follows by order of priority: Sons, grandsons (son's sons), father, brothers, nephews (brother's sons), paternal uncles, paternal uncle's sons. If there are no such relatives or if they fail in their obligation, the duty devolves on the male relatives on the mother's sides. If they too refuse to fulfil their obligation, the duty devolves to the neighbours. And, if they too fail, then it devolves as a Fardh-e-Kifaayah obligation on the whole community. In this era, there is gross abandonment of this obligation at every level of Muslim society. We have become like the kuffaar whose relationship with their parents and adult children is like the relationship of dogs – animals in general who do not distinguish between mother and son, etc. Hence, even affluent Muslims shove their aged parents into miserable institutions known as old-age homes.