Divorce During Wife’s Illness, Adil Salahi

Divorce During Wife’s Illness

Adil Salahi

Arab News, 6/12/04

Q. May I put to you the case of a woman who has been suffering from a mental disorder for several years and was on medication. She has been married for over 25 years and gave birth to three normal and healthy children. She was on psychiatrist treatment for sometime. In her condition, she had frequent disputes with her mother-in-law. She had to be admitted to hospital, but the very second day, her husband divorced her. Is this right? Is the divorce valid?

Z. Ibrar, Pakistan

A. This question should be looked at from two different angles. Firstly, the validity of the divorce. The answer is that it is valid, if the husband took the proper action of divorce, which I have explained on numerous occasions. The right to divorce has been given to the husband as a means of ending the marriage, while a wife is given the right to end the marriage by khula’.

Secondly, we should look at the case from the point of view of the mutual care God requires man and wife to take of each other. The Prophet (peace be upon him) says: “Everyone of you is a shepherd and responsible for his charge. A man is a shepherd looking after his family and children, and he is responsible for them, and a woman is a shepherd in her husband’s home and property, and she is responsible for her charge.” Hence, the husband is responsible to provide the best care he can afford for his wife and children when they are ill. Needless to say, when he divorces his wife during her illness, his action suggests that he is abdicating his responsibility. God will certainly question him about that on the basis of His knowledge of the man’s intentions.

This woman was certainly in a very difficult situation, suffering from a mental disorder over which she had no control. To find herself cast away as a result makes her feel unwanted and hard done by. Her husband would have earned a great reward from God, had he remained patient with her and provided her with the necessary care.

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