What is the Shar'i ruling regarding a married man with five children who is passionately in love with a woman 18 years his junior, and he has convinced his wife of his love for this woman, to the point that he has made his wife call his beloved, knowing that he is religious and says that his beloved is dearer to his heart than his wife?

This man is disobedient to Allah due to his infatuation and relationship with that girl, and he must repent. It is not permissible for his wife or anyone else to obey him in anything that fosters that relationship. If his love for her was unintentional and did not involve speech or private seclusion, then he is afflicted with the malady of love, and we have explained how to cure it. If he is capable of polygyny, then he should marry her because "marriage is the most beneficial remedy and cure for the lover," and in the tradition: "We have not seen for two who love each other anything better than marriage."