Wed 15 رمضان 1447 (04 Mar 2026)
[On Justice in the Overnight Turn Among Co-Wives]
Mufti:
Alsayyed Muhammad b. Abdallah Awad Al-Muayyady
Fatwa number: 18436
Number of views: 1
[On Justice in the Overnight Turn Among Co-Wives]
Fatwa number: 18436
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If it be asked: What is the ruling if a wife constricts her husband concerning the division of nights and demands it, while the husband is severely distressed by spending the night with her due to her old age and other qualities and reasons, in addition to a psychological illness—though she has sons and daughters by him who are all adults—and the husband knows that she loves to remain in his house near her children and that she is greatly distressed if she spends the night elsewhere among her relatives’ homes? The husband, in such a case, is in hardship and cannot allot her an overnight turn; yet divorce would bring her many harms that she does not wish to incur, nor would divorce benefit her; for because of her old age and illness men are not desirous of the like of her. Is it therefore incumbent upon the man either to allot her a turn, or to divorce her, or to reconcile as Sawdah did?
And if none of these three options is attainable, is there a fourth solution by which the husband is safe from falling into sin for his inclination toward another wife?
The answer: What is incumbent upon the husband is justice in the overnight turns, maintenance, clothing, and so forth. If the husband dislikes his wife and turns away from her, then there are solutions:
(1), (2) as mentioned, either divorce or reconciliation like what Sawdah did,
(3) and for the husband, in a case like that mentioned previously in the question—where divorce is not a solution and reconciliation does not come to pass—is to fulfill of her rights what he is able in spending, clothing, honoring her, esteeming her, showing her continual kindness, and being dutiful toward her. Allah—Exalted is He—said: "And do not forget graciousness between you." [Al-Baqarah:237]. What he is unable to do—namely, spending the night with her—falls from him in such a case; and we say this because of His—Exalted is He—saying: "Allah does not burden a soul beyond its capacity." [Al-Baqarah:286]. We say this despite the possibility of resolving the problem through divorce—by which the husband would exit the liabilities of the wife’s rights—because a wife who has children and grandchildren has reached the age of those who are past desire for marriage; thus divorcing her in this condition, removing her from her husband’s home and from among her children and grandchildren, would be a form of neglect and estrangement, along with her being distanced from her children and grandchildren, falling into the desolation of loneliness, the gloating of enemies, and so on; in such a circumstance, divorce is not a solution.
If it be said: If the wife from whom the man’s need has departed and from whom his aversion has intensified is foolish, of poor judgment, nearly like one bereft of reason—if she urges her husband to divorce her, is it incumbent upon the husband to divorce her, and does he sin if he divorces her?
It is said: If the husband knows, and her children know, that by divorce she will be in a worse state—such as being far from her children and grandchildren and from the home in which she has spent her life, falling into the desolation of loneliness, being gloated over, and so on—then in such a case it is not fitting for the husband and the children to comply with her request for divorce, nor to consent to her poor choice.
Source : Min Thimār al-ʿIlm wa al-Ḥikmah vol.1
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