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Is it permissible to divorce one's wife while she is pregnant, after multiple failed reconciliation attempts, and in light of continuous disputes between the wife and his family?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a wife rebels and admonition proves ineffective, the husband is permitted to divorce her without recovering the dowry, or he may refrain from divorcing her until she seeks khul' (divorce at her initiative) from him, and it is preferable for him not to take more than what he gave her. Filial piety, especially in old age, must be lauded, as Allah the Almighty says: "And We have enjoined upon man, to his parents, good treatment. His mother carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship, and his gestation and weaning are thirty months. [He grows] until, when he reaches maturity and reaches [the age of] forty years, he says, 'My Lord, enable me to be grateful for Your favor which You have bestowed upon me and upon my parents and to do righteousness of which You approve and make righteous for me my offspring. Indeed, I have repented to You, and indeed, I am of the Muslims.' Those are the ones from whom We will accept the best of what they did and overlook their misdeeds, [being] among the companions of Paradise. [This is] the promise of truth which they were promised" [Al-Ahqaf: 15-16], and His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "May his nose be rubbed in dust, a man whose parents, or one of them, reached old age in his presence, yet he did not enter Paradise."

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

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