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Is a wife entitled to marry another if her husband is imprisoned and she does not know when he will be released? And what are the conditions for that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman whose husband has been imprisoned and has not left her with financial support has the choice between remaining married to him or seeking a divorce. However, if he has left her with financial support and the duration of his imprisonment is prolonged, and she is harmed by this situation, then it is permissible for her to bring her case before a judge to request a divorce, as held by Sheikh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah. If the wife is unable to benefit from her imprisoned husband, then it is permissible for her to seek a divorce. If the divorce occurs and she completes her iddah (waiting period), she becomes lawful for another man.

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

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