Is the separation from a wife with whom consummation has not occurred considered a divorce or an annulment, and what is the ruling concerning the prompt and deferred dower after this separation?

If a man desires to separate from his wife merely due to aversion, and not because of a defect that necessitates annulment, then the way is divorce. In this case, the wife is entitled to half of the stipulated mahr (dowry), unless one of the spouses waives this half, according to the Almighty's saying: "And if you divorce them before you have touched them and you have already specified for them an obligation [of mahr], then for them is half of what you specified – unless they [the women] forgo it or he in whose hand is the marriage contract forgoes it."