It is permissible for the husband to take his wife for psychotherapy
23-1-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
I married a twenty-eight-year-old girl and some time after our marriage, I felt that she had a psychiatric disorder. Her sister, a pediatrician, accused me of causing her to have a psychiatric disorder, although we are still in the early months of our marriage. In every problem, her father tells me that he cannot exert any pressure on her, lest she would die. For this reason, all her family deal with her as a child, and she actually behaves in such a way as if she were a child. How could I know the extent of her disease, given that they reject the idea of taking her to a psychiatrist, and she also rejects it? Do I have the right, under Sharee‘ah and law, to take her to a psychiatrist to determine her case, and whether or not she has some psychiatric disorder? Now, we have a child in his first months, and she would be fully responsible for his upbringing in the next period. May Allaah Reward you.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
It is permissible for you, under Sharee‘ah, to take your wife to psychotherapy, provided that you should do this in a kind and gentle manner. You also have to clarify to her family that you are only doing so for her benefit, and they have to co-operate with you in this respect.
You, respected brother, have to turn to Allaah Almighty with supplication and imploring, and patiently persevere, hoping for the reward from Allaah Almighty, keeping in mind that everything is decreed and predestined by Allaah. You should also be eager, as much as you could, to treat her well and deal with her leniently, for "Leniency never lies in anything but it beautifies it, and is never taken away from anything but it makes it defective."
It is worth mentioning that it is impermissible for her family to accuse you of what you have mentioned. Rather, you should all co-operate and forgive each other in order to lead a happy life, based on affinity and love.
Allaah Knows best.