What is the ruling of the Sharia concerning a wife who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that affects her prayer and prevents her from performing ghusl (ritual bath) after major impurity, and what is the advice for dealing with her, especially given the presence of a young daughter and the desire to avoid divorce for several reasons?

Our advice is that you strive to reform your wife through admonition, then by abandoning her in bed, then by a light, non-injurious beating. If she is suffering from obsessive thoughts, take her to a psychiatrist. If she becomes upright, maintains her prayers, and treats you kindly, then keep her. It is not permissible for you to harbor ill suspicions about her merely due to obsessive thoughts and doubts. Know that it is her right that you do not absent yourself from her for more than six months without her consent and without a valid excuse.

However, if she persists in the aforementioned state, abandoning prayer, then you should divorce her. Divorce may be obligatory in this case. In the event of her disobedience (nushuz), it is permissible for you to refuse to divorce her until she forfeits her deferred dower (mu'akhkhar sadaq) or other rights to you. Know that divorce is not evil in all circumstances. Allah Almighty says: (But if they separate [by divorce], Allah will enrich each [of them] from His abundance.)