What is the ruling on a woman who insults the religion or the Lord?

The questioner : The third question: What is the ruling on a woman who insults her husband's religion or his Lord, meaning she insults her husband's Lord?

The Shaykh : In this case, one must look into her situation: does she mean what she says? If she means what she says, meaning this is her belief and not just her foolishness as many men do—yes, they curse their Lord, their Prophet, and their religion—yes, and the cause of this is the neglect of applying the Shari'ah rulings. Otherwise, as we all know from the saying of Allah the Exalted: .
If the Shari'ah hudud (fixed punishments) were established, such as executing the murderer, stoning the married adulterer, flogging the fornicator, and amputating the thief, these fitnah (trials, discord or temptation) that all Islamic countries complain about would not exist, let alone the countries of shirk (associating partners with Allah). Because of His saying: . So if there were a Shari'ah ruling, you would not find a person, whether a man or a woman, daring to insult the Lord, or insult the Prophet, or insult the religion. But the matter is chaos, as you see. If there were a group that enjoins good and forbids evil, and they had the authority to discipline people like these, three of them would suffice to end the problem. But this does not exist, unfortunately. Therefore, I believe that many of these people who insult Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He), if you were to say to them a moment later, "Brother, do you not fear Allah?" they would tell you it was a "Satanic moment," expressing that he is a believer and a Muslim, and so on. So this woman or that man, this wife or that husband, must be asked to clarify what is in their hearts. If what is in their hearts is contrary to what is in their words—meaning faith is in their hearts and disbelief (kufr) is in their words—then they must be given a discretionary punishment (ta'zir) and disciplined. But there is no one to punish them and no one to discipline them. So, does your question now concern whether the husband should hold onto his wife or what? Yes, he holds onto her if she is present. What do you want from the question? Do you want to say in your question: is she a Muslim or a disbeliever? I do not think so.

The questioner : What does the man do? What is the ruling?

The Shaykh : He is telling you the same thing. Yes, so this man, in his capacity as her husband, is the one who knows her best. I am telling you now, if it is like this and if it is like this, yes, because I do not know, but the husband undoubtedly knows that this speech is coming from her heart, God forbid, and not just from her words and foolishness. So if the husband knows that she is truly saying with her tongue what is in her heart, he must divorce her and separate from her immediately, because she is not a Muslim, nor is she a Jew or a Christian, but she has no religion. And the exact opposite applies. We are often asked about a wife who complains that her husband does not pray, does not fast, drinks alcohol, and says such and such and does such and such. The same distinction applies: if she knows that he does not believe in Allah and His Messenger, she must request separation immediately and not live under the protection of this disbelieving husband. And if the husband does not know of this heart-disbelief from his wife, he must discipline her, because he has the authority to discipline. We are speaking in general terms; if there were a body for enjoining good and forbidding evil to discipline these people, that would be different. But as for the husband, Allah gave him the authority and said: . So the husband has the right to strike his wife for not obeying him in a permissible matter, and a fortiori, he has the authority to discipline and strike her in what is more important than that, which is that she insults the Lord of the Worlds. Did you get the answer, if Allah wills?

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

Another questioner : There is a hadith here from which we can benefit in this matter, and it is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): "Three people call upon Allah and He does not respond to them," and he mentioned among them a man who has .

The Shaykh : This is authentic and has been transmitted regarding this and what is less than it. This hadith is very important, meaning the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says, among other things, that three people’s supplications are not answered, among them a man who has a wife of bad character under his authority, yet he holds onto her and does not divorce her. There is no doubt that a woman like the one you asked about is at the worst of her character, so it is obligatory that he not hold onto her, but that he actually divorce her. However, this is after taking the means of discipline, the last of which is warning her with separation and divorce.