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What are the legitimate and material rights of the husband that he can claim after his wife requests a divorce, especially given that he paid the Mahr and its accessories and gifts, covered the costs of hotel accommodation, plane tickets, and wedding night expenses, and the wife is still a virgin, and the husband has no legitimate defect?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman is not permitted to seek a divorce without cause. If she desires a divorce without any hardship from her husband, he may refuse to divorce her until she returns to him the mahr (dowry) and what he spent on her. If a man divorces his wife after al-khalwa (private seclusion), the entire dowry becomes due, even if he has not consummated the marriage with her. The husband may request a mahr greater than what he gave her, by mutual agreement of both parties. It is more likely that he has the right to take more than what he gave her, unless a hadith contradicts this.

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

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