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What is the Islamic legal ruling concerning a wife who fled her husband's home, then refused to return to him after swearing on the Qur'an that she would return, and severed communication with him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The questioner's statement includes several issues:

First Issue: The wife has the right to demand a separate dwelling, even after agreeing to live with the husband's family, because this right is renewable. Second Issue: If the husband divorces his wife with an explicit utterance (e.g., "My wife is divorced") or an implicit one (e.g., "I do not want my wife") with the intention of divorce, then the divorce occurs. Third Issue: The husband's statement "I will not divorce you" with the intention of reconciliation is considered an implicit expression of reconciliation. Scholars have differed on whether reconciliation occurs through implicit expressions. Fourth Issue: The wife has the right to refuse to return home if the refusal is due to the lack of a separate dwelling.

Finally, it is advised to refer to the Sharia court or its equivalent, especially if there is a dispute and a need to ascertain the husband's intention in some matters. The judge's ruling resolves disagreements in matters of ijtihad.

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

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