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What should I do about my wife's father interfering in our lives, and his demand for my wife to leave me or for me to leave her, knowing that the most detestable of lawful things to Allah is divorce, and her aunts' words about us?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Part of a husband's good companionship with his wife is to be kind to her family and help her honor her parents and maintain ties of kinship with them, without preventing her from doing so. In return, the wife's family must realize that their daughter has an independent life with her husband, and that he has more right to her than they do. They may visit her and check on her within what is customary, in a way that serves religious and worldly interests and sustains affection. However, it is not permissible for them to appoint themselves as guardians over her, disregarding the husband's headship and the couple's right to independence. If this involves corrupting the wife against her husband and inciting her to divorce, then it is an injustice and corruption. In this case, the husband has the right to prevent her from visiting them, or to prevent them from visiting her, if he is certain that there is harm in it. The husband is advised to protect his wife, forgive her family, try to win their hearts, and not yield to their domineering behavior. If they persist, he should involve an influential mediator. If they do not desist, he may shun them to the extent that it repels their harm and annoyance, and limit communication to phone calls, for a graceful shunning is better than harmful interaction.

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

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