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Is the wife entitled to claim her deferred dowry and private possessions when she seeks a divorce due to the husband's arrogance and ill-treatment of her, and his leaving her at her family's home without inquiring about her?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman is not permitted to seek a divorce without a valid Shar’i (Islamic legal) excuse. Among the permissible excuses for divorce are: the husband's ill-treatment, his refusal to provide financial support (nafaqah), his absence for more than six months without her consent, or her aversion to her husband such that she fears failing in her duties towards him, as was the case with the wife of Thabit ibn Qays.

If a woman is divorced for a permissible reason, she is entitled to her deferred mahr (dowry), her personal belongings, and whatever the husband made part of her mahr.

If the husband refuses to divorce without a significant harm being present, the wife may request a khul’ (divorce at the wife's instigation, usually with compensation), and in such a case, the husband may stipulate that she relinquish her mahr or part of it.

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

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