What is the religious ruling regarding the situation of a couple where the husband abandoned his wife, then his infidelity became apparent, and the wife refused to return to him, based on the noble verse: "The fornicator does not marry except a fornicatress or a polytheist; and as for the fornicatress, none marries her except a fornicator or a polytheist. And that has been made unlawful for the believers," and they are living in the same house to avoid divorce and its effects on the children and social scandal? And what is the husband's right over his wife in this case?

It is forbidden for a husband to abandon his wife for more than three days without a legitimate Shar'i reason. It is obligatory for the wife to obey her husband and not to refuse him, even if he commits adultery, because his committing adultery is a sin on his part, and her disobedience to him is a sin on her part. Adultery does not annul the marriage contract, whether it occurred before consummation or after. Both Al-Shafi'i and Al-Buhuti explicitly stated that adultery does not annul the marriage. The wife should advise her husband, remind him of Allah, adorn herself for him, and beware of falsely accusing him.