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Is the wife entitled to refuse intercourse due to her husband not praying?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Whoever does not pray all the prayers regularly is considered a disbeliever by the Companions and a group of scholars, and it is not permissible to marry him or eat his slaughtered animal. If the husband does not pray at all, he is in grave danger, and it is not permissible to remain with him. He must be warned of this, and the wife's refusal to have intercourse is correct until he prays, based on the saying of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: "Between a man and polytheism and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer," and "The covenant between us and them is prayer; whoever abandons it has disbelieved." The Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not consider any act, the abandonment of which constituted disbelief, other than prayer. Therefore, the husband must be warned, and if he insists, it is not permissible to remain with him.

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

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