Is the loss of affection toward the husband or toward the wife a permissible reason for requesting divorce?
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The questioner:
Is the loss of affection toward the husband or toward the wife a permissible reason for requesting divorce?
The Shaykh:
Affection may disappear at a certain time and then return. There may be a cause or an obstacle to affection, and if this cause or obstacle is removed, the affection returns. So, the one who is afflicted with a lack of affection should not rush, but wait for this obstacle to be removed. Yes.
The questioner:
So it ends in the absence of affection, and that is a reason.
The Shaykh:
If it continues that there is no affection between them, then separation is better, due to the saying of the Exalted and Majestic: "And if they separate, Allah will enrich each of them from His abundance. And Allah is Encompassing, Wise." So, if the husband does not love the wife, and this continues with him, then his separation from her is better, so that she may find another husband in whom there is affection. Or, conversely, if the wife does not have affection for her husband, she may redeem herself from him; she may offer money to be free from him. This is called khul' (divorce at the wife's request for compensation). The saying of the Exalted and Majestic:[Al-Baqarah 2:229] If she fears that she will not uphold the rights of the marital relationship with him because of her hatred for him, she may request khul' (divorce at the wife's request for compensation) and offer him compensation so that he will grant her khul' (divorce at the wife's request for compensation). Yes.
Is the loss of affection toward the husband or toward the wife a permissible reason for requesting divorce?
The Shaykh:
Affection may disappear at a certain time and then return. There may be a cause or an obstacle to affection, and if this cause or obstacle is removed, the affection returns. So, the one who is afflicted with a lack of affection should not rush, but wait for this obstacle to be removed. Yes.
The questioner:
So it ends in the absence of affection, and that is a reason.
The Shaykh:
If it continues that there is no affection between them, then separation is better, due to the saying of the Exalted and Majestic: "And if they separate, Allah will enrich each of them from His abundance. And Allah is Encompassing, Wise." So, if the husband does not love the wife, and this continues with him, then his separation from her is better, so that she may find another husband in whom there is affection. Or, conversely, if the wife does not have affection for her husband, she may redeem herself from him; she may offer money to be free from him. This is called khul' (divorce at the wife's request for compensation). The saying of the Exalted and Majestic:
But if you fear that they will not keep [within] the limits of Allah, then there is no blame upon either of them concerning that by which she ransoms herself
فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا يُقِيمَا حُدُودَ اللَّهِ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا فِيمَا افْتَدَتْ بِهِ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يكون فقد المودة نحو الزوج أو نحو الزوجة سببًا مباحًا لطلب الطلاق؟ الشيخ صالح بن فوزان الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.