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Is a woman entitled to seek divorce from a husband who neglects her, does not provide for her, and refuses to work?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A husband's neglect of his wife permits her to seek divorce if it involves abandonment or the cessation of conjugal relations without a legitimate Sharia-compliant reason. The same applies if he stops providing the obligatory maintenance, based on the statement of Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him: "They must spend, or they must divorce." However, a husband's unemployment is not a valid reason as long as he continues to provide maintenance.

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

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