What is the ruling of Islamic law regarding a brother's imposition upon his sister, the wife, not to speak with her husband via the internet, and what is the permissible duration for a husband to forsake his wife in bed during a holiday period?
A wife's obedience to her husband is obligatory and takes precedence over her obedience to her father, mother, or brother, except in matters of disobedience [to God], because "there is no obedience to a created being in disobedience to the Creator." If a woman disobeys her husband, she is considered defiant (nashiz). Islamic law has prescribed stages for addressing defiance: admonition, then abandonment in bed, then non-brutal beating, then sending two arbiters from their families. Abandonment in bed means refraining from sleeping in the wife's bed as a form of discipline. Scholars differ on its duration: some restrict it to one month, while others do not restrict it to a specific period, but rather until the wife reforms. As for abandoning speech, it is not permissible for it to exceed three days.
Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026
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