Q. when can a Muslim women divorce her husband? Are there any special situation in which she can’t divorce him?

A. A muslim man and woman should not seek to divorce their spouses upon trivial matters. Rasulullah (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) has stated: “among all the permitted acts, divorce is the most hateful to Allah” (Abu Dawood). The Rasulull of Allah has also mentioned: Any woman who asks her husband for a divorce without justification, the fragrance of Paradise will be forbidden to her.” Such hadiths are narrated by Imaams Abu Dawood, Tirmidhi as well as Ahmad.

Serious mattes that would make divorce a possible option for a woman include severe beatings, starvation, impotence of her spouse, separation due to political matters making reconciliation impossible, a woman forced into marriage to a person that harms her, drug addiction and his refusal to seek detoxification, a spouse having a life threatening transmittable disease which was not mentioned at the time of marriage, carries a contagious virus that would most certainly spread to the woman and have an adverse affect of family life , addictive behaviors that are harmful to that which sharia prohibits and the spouse refuses to seek assistance in solving problems, etc. The spouse seeking divorce cannot merely say, ‘I don’t like the other person.’ There must be some added proof that shows that being within the relationship would be harmful to both parties.

All effort must be made to reconcile the couple. Should all attempts fail to remedy a situation, then the matter should be handed over to a trusting knowledgeable group of scholars or elders that can make fasakh (nullification) of the nikah.

Allah Certainly Knows best.