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Is a husband's divorce of his wife valid when he is suffering from severe depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and is his wife entitled to seek divorce and annulment for harm due to his mental illness?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A divorce issued by someone suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder (waswasa) due to their condition is not valid. However, it appears that the questioner divorced his wife while fully aware and of his own free will. Therefore, the divorce is valid, and his wife has become irrevocably separated from him due to the expiry of her iddah (waiting period) without a رجعة (revocation). He has no way back to her except through a new marriage contract. If, however, the divorce was due to waswasa and not by choice, it is not valid. The Sharia court will rule on the wife's case, and the wife may request a divorce due to harm caused by the husband's illness.

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

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