How is "living together in kindness" achieved, and is the husband's duty limited to providing basic needs, or does it include affection, education, and bringing joy? What is the scope of a wife's obedience to her husband? What should a wife do if her husband overburdens her? Is a husband sinful if he abandons his wife and does not satisfy her desires?

The marital life is a strong bond and a solemn covenant realized through mutual understanding between the spouses and through each of them knowing and fulfilling their duties. Among the wife's rights upon her husband are kind companionship, intercourse, fulfilling her desire, and providing for her physical well-being (food, clothing, and shelter) and spiritual well-being (teaching matters of religion). The husband should not burden his wife with what she cannot bear. The wife, in turn, must obey her husband in what is right and know that his right over her is great. The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "If I were to command anyone to prostrate to anyone other than Allah, I would have commanded the woman to prostrate to her husband. By Him in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, a woman does not fulfill the right of her Lord until she fulfills the right of her husband. Even if he were to ask for herself while she is on a camel's saddle, she should not refuse him."