A woman who is harmed by the neglect of her rights, such as maintenance and others, has the right to annul the marriage
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Fatwa No. (25070)
Praise be to Allah alone, and blessings and peace be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. And after: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from His Excellency the Secretary-General of the Islamic Fiqh Academy affiliated with the Muslim World League, in his letter No. (108 1089) dated 27/2/1432 AH, accompanied by the inquiry submitted by a number of Afghan students studying in the Kingdom, requesting information on the Shari'ah ruling regarding women who have lost their husbands in the various incidents witnessed in Afghanistan for three decades, and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Scholars with No. (309) dated 3/3/1432 AH. The inquirer asked a question, the text of which is as follows:
We would like to present to your Excellency one of the most difficult issues that disrupts the tranquility of life in many families in Afghanistan and leads to endless tribal disputes, making the lives of many women an unbearable hell. This is the loss of a number of men in the various incidents witnessed in the region for the past three decades, so that the wives of these missing men continue to wait for their husbands for long years, the extent of which only Allah the Exalted knows. We hope that this issue will be presented to the honorable scholars.
After studying the inquiry, the Committee answered that if the wife of a missing man is harmed by the neglect of marital rights, such as maintenance and intercourse, or one of them, she has the right to annul the marriage from her husband. This is indicated by the saying of Allah the Exalted:
For those who swear not to have sexual relations with their wives is a waiting time of four months, but if they return [to normal relations] - then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
لِلَّذِينَ يُؤْلُونَ مِنْ نِسَائِهِمْ تَرَبُّصُ أَرْبَعَةِ أَشْهُرٍ فَإِنْ فَاءُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌIt was narrated from 'Ubadah bin Samit that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) ruled: “There should be neither harming nor reciprocating harm.”
لا ضرر ولا ضرارJust as 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) set a time limit for the absence of the mujahideen from their wives, he entered upon 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) to Hafsa and said: "O my daughter, how long can a woman endure being without her husband?" She said: "Glory be to Allah, you ask me this?" He said: "If it were not that I wish to look into the affairs of the Muslims, I would not have asked you." She said: "Five months or six months." So he set a limit for the people in their military expeditions of six months: they would travel for one month, stay for four months, and travel back for one month. Al-Bayhaqi recorded this in (al-Sunan) and 'Abd al-Razzaq in his Musannaf. Thus, 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) set a time limit for the mujahid's absence from his wife. And if a woman's husband is lost, she has the right to annul the marriage, because it is not possible to reach him or contact him. Furthermore, one of the objectives of marriage is to provide chastity for each spouse, which is not achieved when the husband is lost. Removing the harm from the wife is achieved by annulling her marriage to her husband to attain this objective when she is free from the first marriage. A group of scholars states that a woman has the right to annul her marriage to her husband whenever he is absent from her or lost, and she fears committing a major sin. Another scholar said that the occurrence of harm to the wife by the withholding of intercourse necessitates annulment in all cases, whether it is with the husband's intention or without it, and even if he is capable or unable, just as with maintenance. And what we have mentioned regarding the annulment by the wife of the lost or absent man, at her request, for her need for marital rights such as maintenance or intercourse, is what is practiced by
courts in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . In all cases, the one competent to annul the marriages of women due to the aforementioned harm at their request is the courts of the countries in which they reside; for this contains caution regarding the protection of chastity and the rights of the parties.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.