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What are the rights of a wife whose husband discovered, after marriage, that she suffers from a mental illness and uterine cancer, and she requested a divorce?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman is not permitted to seek a divorce without a legitimate Shar'i (Islamic legal) justification. If her husband divorces her before consummation (Dukhool), she is entitled to half of the named Mahr (dower). If the divorce occurs after consummation, she is entitled to the full Mahr.

If the husband is not the cause for the request for divorce, he has the right to refuse to divorce her until she redeems herself (through Khul').

Cancer of the uterus is not considered a defect that establishes the option of annulment (Khiyar al-Faskh), unless it prevents the purpose of marriage.

Suffering from a psychological illness does not necessitate the option (of annulment) unless it reaches the point of insanity.

If the annulment occurs before consummation, the woman is not entitled to any of the Mahr. If it occurs after consummation, she is entitled to the full Mahr, and the husband can claim compensation from whoever deceived him.

The option (of annulment) is not established for someone who was aware of the defect.

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

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