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What are the legitimate rights of a husband toward his disobedient wife who repeatedly leaves the marital home without his permission, and how can this matter be addressed?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A wife is not permitted to leave the house except out of necessity and with her husband’s permission if he is present. If he forbids her from leaving, he has the right to do so. A husband is not permitted to abandon his wife when signs of nushuz (disobedience/rebellion) appear, unless preaching to her has been ineffective. If preaching does not work, he should abandon her in bed. If abandoning her in bed does not work, he may strike her with a non-violent (non-bruising) strike. The husband should communicate with his wife and explain to her the obligation of her obedience to him in what is good, and he should accept her apologies and overlook her slips, and they both should strive in obedience to Allah.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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