Salam-waley-Kum When a wife is in her parents home - is she bound to inform or take permission from husband for any of her activities - like joining classes to learn cooking/computers/etc, roaming out with family members, start a job. And in case prior information or permission is required from husband what can be the punishment if she fails to seek it ? Also please consider the situation : I had a fight with my wife and have asked her to stay back at her parents home and she has decided not to talk to me at all. However i strongly believe that she should be informing or seek approval from me for any of her activities apart from staying back at home or few casual gatherings with her family members but she cannot join any classes or start a job. Issue 2 -- My wife is very argumentive and abusive and short tempered, she does not respect my parents and me - when she is angry she forgets all limits and respects for elders. It has been 2 years and she has repeated it multiple times, i have informed the same to her parents and they promised to fix the issue but it has only got worsen. - Please advise if I can take divorce on these grounds and how should I go about it ?

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 is His slave and Messenger.

If a wife is under her husband’s guardianship and he sufficiently spends on her, then she is obliged to seek his permission if she wants to go out, whether this is to learn computer, or learn cooking or for walking around with her family. If she goes out without his permission then she is sinful but we are not aware of any specific punishment for this; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83157.

You should know that divorce is permissible even if it took place without any reason, but divorce is disliked if it takes place without a need.

However, if a wife is disobedient, there are some Islamic steps to take in order to discipline her, so one should not hasten to divorce before exhausting all these means; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 85402. It could be that the solution is not in returning the wife to her parents’ house; rather, this may worsen the situation.

Therefore, we advise you to be patient with your wife and try to rectify her by following these Islamic means. If she improves, all praise be to Allaah, but if she persists in her behaviour, then you may divorce her especially because she has a bad conduct as you mentioned.

On the other hand, the Islamic (permissible) divorce is when a husband divorces his wife when she is pregnant or in a period of purity during which he did not have sexual intercourse with her and it is desirable to have witnesses for this kind of divorce.

You may divorce her without any compensation or you may refuse to divorce her until she pays you compensation because she is disobedient; for more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 82735.

Finally, it should be noted that marital life should be based on mutual respect between the husband and wife because this is a means for the continuity of the marital relationship between them.

For more benefit on the duties of spouses towards each other, please refer to Fatwa 85308.

Allaah Knows best.