Is it permissible to seek divorce from a wife who has resumed smoking and refuses to quit, claiming it is an outlet for her, and who threatens to make her husband's life a living hell if he tells her father?

You are permitted to divorce your wife due to her insistence on smoking and her threats, as divorce is permissible when there is a need for it due to the woman's bad character. Nevertheless, we advise you not to hasten in divorce, but rather to strive to reform her through admonition, then by abandoning her in bed, then by a non-violent beating, for divorce is the last resort.