my husband is verbally abusive he has hit me once as well. he is disrespectful towards me and my family. he does not have a decent job and is always confused. we dont have a house we are trying hard to meet ends. he drinks, he calls prostitutes for fun. he steels. he doesn't pray. i have warned him and tried to leave him to make him change he promises he will change but yet the change is only temporary. i have tried everything to change him with love, anger, threat. It doesn't work while i was deciding if i should continue to stay with him or take a divorce i conceived a baby i am 6 weeks pregnent and i dont know what to do. please tell me if its a bigger sin to abort a child or to give birth to him/her knowing that things might not work out with your partner and you may not be able to provide a good life to that child? is it ok to give birth and then take divorce if my husband continues with his wrong doings? i want to abort the baby, take a divorce and start all over. Please advise

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.

It is not permissible for you to abort your pregnancy for the reasons which you mentioned in the question; abortion is not permissible except in case of necessity like when the fetus constitutes a danger for the life of the mother. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 83891.

You should know that it is Allaah who is the Provider, and the provision of the child is written while he is still in the womb of his mother. Therefore, aborting him out of fear of poverty or fearing that he will not have a good life is a sort of having bad thoughts regarding Allaah; Allaah Says (what means): {And kill not your children for fear of poverty. We provide for them and for you. Surely, the killing of them is a great sin.}[Quran 17:31]

Therefore, we advise you if your husband does not repent and does not abide by the Religion of Allaah, and does not maintain good marital relationships with you, not to hesitate to ask him to divorce you; rather, it might be that staying with him is not permissible for you if he completely abandons the prayer. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 130955 and 136875.

If he refuses to divorce you without compensation, you may ask him for Khul’ (divorce at the request of the wife who pays compensation). For more benefit on Khul’, please refer to Fatwa 89039.

Allaah Knows best.