Back to search

What is the ruling on a wife remaining with her husband who only approaches her every few months and refuses treatment, claiming illness or sorcery, while the wife fears falling into indecency, and what are her rights in the event of divorce?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Allah Almighty has obligated the husband to treat his wife with kindness (ma'ruf). Among the wife's rights upon her husband is for him to ensure her chastity through intercourse, and this is obligatory for the capable husband. The majority of jurists hold it to be obligatory. Scholars differed regarding the obligatory frequency of intercourse, and the soundest opinion is that it is according to the wife's need and the husband's ability. The husband's aversion to intercourse might be due to psychological or organic illnesses, or due to the evil eye (ayn), as the evil eye can cause marital problems. A righteous wife should stand by her husband and help him seek treatment. A man cannot engage in intercourse unless he is active and willing, unlike a woman. If the wife cannot endure this situation, she has the right to seek a divorce. The husband must hasten to treat himself; if he is able to ensure his wife's chastity, then he should do so, otherwise, he should release her kindly.

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

Read the full answer on Ftawy