The ruling on threatening a wife with divorce because she has not borne a son
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh Salih, there are some husbands who threaten their wives that if she gives birth to, for example, more than three or four daughters and does not bear a son, she is divorced, or that he will marry another woman over her. This causes distress for this woman, and she is asking now, saying: What is your guidance, advice, and instruction in such matters?
Answer:
We ask Allah for well-being. This is ignorance and interference in the decree and destiny of Allah. What can a woman do about whether the children are male or female? What can she do about having many children? This is from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So the servant should be pleased with the decree and destiny of Allah and be pleased with the children, because he does not know what the benefit is. Perhaps these children will be a cause of his happiness and a cause of benefit for him.
So he should not dislike the children, as they are also a cause of his provision, for Allah provides for them. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) provides for them. Allah will not create a creature and let it be lost, so their provision is upon Allah. He said (Exalted and Majestic is He):[Al-Isra 17:31] Their provision is upon Allah. This is among the actions of the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah) who killed their children out of fear of poverty. This is among the actions of the people of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. And those who do not kill them but have a bad opinion of Allah, thinking that many children cause poverty, and so on, this is also a bad opinion of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and objecting to Allah. For Allah created them for a wisdom, and He is the One responsible for their provisions. [Hud 11:6] Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Honorable Shaykh Salih, there are some husbands who threaten their wives that if she gives birth to, for example, more than three or four daughters and does not bear a son, she is divorced, or that he will marry another woman over her. This causes distress for this woman, and she is asking now, saying: What is your guidance, advice, and instruction in such matters?
Answer:
We ask Allah for well-being. This is ignorance and interference in the decree and destiny of Allah. What can a woman do about whether the children are male or female? What can she do about having many children? This is from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So the servant should be pleased with the decree and destiny of Allah and be pleased with the children, because he does not know what the benefit is. Perhaps these children will be a cause of his happiness and a cause of benefit for him.
So he should not dislike the children, as they are also a cause of his provision, for Allah provides for them. Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) provides for them. Allah will not create a creature and let it be lost, so their provision is upon Allah. He said (Exalted and Majestic is He):
And do not kill your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Indeed, their killing is ever a great sin.
وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُمْ خَشْيَةَ إِمْلَاقٍ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُهُمْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ إِنَّ قَتْلَهُمْ كَانَ خِطْئًا كَبِيرًاAnd there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision
وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَاThe presenter:
May Allah reward you.
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/237 — archive.org (4:43)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.