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Is the wife considered disobedient (nashiz) and what are the rights and obligations of each spouse if the husband divorces his wife with a single pronouncement during a state of anger, and she lives in his house with their two children and refuses to return to him?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a wife is still within her waiting period (iddah) following a revocable divorce, her husband has the right to take her back without a new contract, and she does not have the right to refuse to return. If she refuses, she is considered disobedient (nashiz) and her maintenance (nafaqa) is forfeited until she repents. If she does not wish to return, she may ransom herself with compensation through khul' (divorce by mutual agreement, initiated by the wife), which is valid according to the majority of scholars. The revocably divorced wife is considered as a wife; thus, the husband may be alone with her, and she may adorn herself for him. However, if her waiting period (iddah) expires, her husband no longer has the right to take her back except with a new contract, as she has become a stranger to him. In this case, he is not permitted to live with her in a single dwelling with shared facilities.

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

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