JUDGEMENT :- This second appeal raises a difficult problem in Mohamedan Law relating to maintenance of children by a father. The question is whether the father's obligation is purely personal or whether it attaches to his property in such a way as to be enforced even against an alienee from the father. To find a solution to this problem learned counsel had to hunt for material in ancient texts of Islamic Jurisprudence. For, there was a surprising dearth of case-law on the subject. And, as I shall presently show, the one solitary case on the subject figuring in our law reports contained title or no reference to ancient sources.

2. The question in this case arose this way. One Mohamed Ali had three properties and two wives. Under a settlement of the year 1972 he settled all the three properties on his childless first wife, Ibrahim Fathima, to the entire exclusion of the second wife, Ummul Bashira, and her four minor children. The value of the settled properties was Rs. 55,000.

3. The circumstances under which Mohammed Ali parted with his properties under the settlement are not very much in dispute. He had fallen out with his second wife, for some reason, and switched his affec