What is the ruling on a man who has a wife from whom he has children, and she is of bad character; should he divorce her?

The questioner : There is a friend of mine who told me to consult you on a matter. This man is married.

The Shaykh : Raise your voice.

The questioner : He is married, and he has three children, and he wants to divorce his wife because of discord and conflict, on the grounds that she does not pray, and conflict has arisen between him and his wife, and he said to her: "Swear on the Qur'an..." and she insults him and curses him with the most hateful curses; so what is your advice in this matter?

The Shaykh : Naturally, the religious advice is to hasten to get rid of her by divorcing her, but you mention that he has three children from her, so due to our ignorance of the character of this man, this husband afflicted with a wife of bad character, and this husband who has been afflicted with such a woman, it has come in a hadith: . Therefore, we order him to divorce her, even if she were less bad than what you just described, but the presence of these children first, and our ignorance of this husband's character second, and the strength of his faith third or fourth; we cannot say that he must hasten to divorce her, and this is the ruling; because we fear that he might be of that type, like that person who came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: "O Messenger of Allah, my wife does not turn back the hand of a toucher." He said: . And I say to this man whom I do not know: "Divorce her." He said: "I love her." He said to him: . What am I supposed to do with you? Because if he told him: "Divorce her," and he divorced her, he might go and deal with her in a forbidden manner, no, mercy on you, some evil is less than some, he said to him: . He said: "I love her." He said: .
This man you are talking about, in my opinion, he must hasten to divorce her so that he may be at ease from her in this world and the Hereafter, but the problem will arise for me, and this happens to us often; questions of this type reach us, but he has so many children from her. Okay; what am I supposed to do for you? You know best; you can be patient with her and you can take care of her children, or you can give her the children and she can raise them and spoil their upbringing, and so on; these are matters = -- and peace be upon you -- = these are matters that we cannot first assess them properly and know the reality of their situation. And secondly: the master of the house knows best what is in it.
So the answer is said to this man: "Divorce her," but look, if you divorce her, will you return to her and become humiliated with her if you take her back, more than the first situation?
And where is our brother Wafiq? We need to ask permission, the time now, I think, is approaching eleven and a third.

Another questioner : ... One question.

The Shaykh: Do you allow us after this question?

Another questioner : If Allah wills.

The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good.