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Is a wife permitted to refuse to wake up for her husband who requests her at night, especially if he sometimes yells and she smells alcohol from him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The wife's obedience to her husband in what is right (ma'ruf) is one of the greatest obligations. She must obey him if he calls her to his bed, even if he drinks alcohol. She should advise him gently and wisely. This is based on the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "If a man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses, and he spends the night angry with her, the angels curse her until morning." An exception to this is if he commands her to disobey Allah, or to do something beyond her capacity, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There is no obedience to a creature in disobedience [to Allah]. Obedience is only in what is right (ma'ruf)."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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