Divorce because of poverty and debt

23-5-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

Can a Muslim divorce his loving and faithful wife in Hijab because of extreme poverty and huge dept?

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

 

The Fuqaha stated that divorce happens according to five Islamic rulings, among which is the disliked divorce, which is when there is no religious obligation to do so.

Ibn Qudamah stated in al-Mughni: 'That divorce is of five kinds: (1) The obligatory (Wajib) divorce, which is when one makes an oath not to sleep with his wife, and does not want to sleep with her after the end of the waiting period (4 months).

(2) The disliked divorce, which is a divorce without any need for it.' Then he mentioned the other kinds of divorce.'

Some of the people of knowledge are of the view that this kind of divorce is Haram, because it wrongs the woman, and it harms her.  The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Do not harm yourselves and do not cause harm to others."  [Reported by Ahmed]

Therefore, divorcing a faithful practicing religious woman is disliked; this is the least that could be said about it among these categories of divorce, as this wife is pleased to stay with him according to those circumstances.

 

Allah knows best.