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Is a wife entitled to seek a divorce after 12 years of marriage if she cannot love her husband, yet does not hate him either?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman is not permitted to seek a divorce without a valid reason, due to the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Any woman who asks her husband for divorce without any [valid] reason, the scent of Paradise will be forbidden to her." If she is not afflicted by harm or a dislike for her husband that prevents her from fulfilling his rights, then she has no right to seek divorce or khul'. It must be noted that a good marital life does not depend solely on the presence of love and affection. Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) said: "Not all homes are built upon love, but rather upon living together with mutual respect and Islam."

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

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