The Ruling on Remaining with a Wife Who Abandons Prayer

The following message was received by the program from the listener Muhsin ibn Mish'al al-'Utaybi from Riyadh. Our brother says: I married my cousin in the year 1400, and she was twelve years old at the time. She has not borne any children until now. I treat her with kindness, but she repays this kindness with bad treatment. In fact, she does not perform the obligatory prayers. I have advised her several times, but she has not responded, claiming that she is still young. She says that she will perform the obligation of prayer when she reaches the age of twenty or twenty-one. She also does not fulfill her duty toward her husband... He continues to complain about this wife, and the most important point in the matter is that she was raised without performing prayer. He asks the Shaykh for guidance?
Answer: As long as she is of this description, there is no good for you in her. Rather, it is obligatory for you to separate from her. It is not permissible for you to take pleasure from her while she is of this age, as long as she has reached the age of women who are accountable. She is considered to have reached maturity if she completes fifteen years of age, or if menstruation begins, or if she experiences discharge during intercourse or in a wet dream, or if she grows the hair known at the private parts—the hair. By any one of these four things, she is considered to have reached maturity. If she does not pray, it is not permissible for her to remain with you. Rather, it is permissible to remove her and not take pleasure from her until Allah grants her repentance.
You may strike her for this and discipline her until she becomes upright; because striking her in this situation is very important. Perhaps Allah will guide her through your means. And despite that, she has not borne children, so her defects are many. This woman has many defects, and safety from her is better for you in this world and the Hereafter. It is not permissible for you to remain with her ever, except if she repents. We ask Allah to guide her and return her to repentance, or to replace her with someone better for you. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good.