QUESTION:

What are the rights of a wife in Islam?

ANSWER:

In Islam the rights of wife are well established and protected both legally and socially. Unfortunately however, a greater number of husbands and men-folk in general, are either ignorant of these rights, or willfully violate them.

1. A lady enters the marriage contract through her absolute free choice. No marriage is solemnized without her consent.

2. While husband is assigned by Allah the right to divorce, wife has the right to seek separation through khula‘. If husband does not agree to separation, it can and should be enforced through court’s intervention.

3. The household expenditure is to be met by husband, as a rule. Wife is not obliged to take or share this burden, even if she is rich. She may, but that will be a favour.

4. She has the right to have a separate dwelling, particularly if husband possesses means to arrange one.

5. She has the right to own property, received through various sources of inheritance, earned or enhanced through gainful investment.

6. She may ask for a maid/servant to do household chores, and cannot be compelled to do these jobs herself as an obligation.

7. Legally, she cannot be compelled even to breast-feed her baby. That arrangement is the responsibility of father. But she can never deny bed-sharing unless it was physically not possible. This is one area in which Sharī‘ah asks her to comply with her husband’s desire.

8. As mother, she enjoys priority over her husband to be looked after and served by their children (sons).

Having listed some of the rights as above, it is admitted that women in our society are deprived of what Allah granted them