What is the ruling on a person who is under an impotence spell and is unable to have intercourse with his wife? Is she entitled to ask for divorce?

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.

An impotence curse is a form of magic that is worked on a husband to prevent him from having sexual intercourse with his wife.

If a person finds himself afflicted with this curse then he should seek treatment, because there is a cure for every disease, regardless of who realizes this cure and who does not.

We would also like to advise the husband in question to give divorce long and thorough consideration and we advise his wife to be patient with him, for Allaah The Almighty might cure him and relieve them from their distress.

As for the Sharee‘ah (Islamic law) ruling concerning the issue of divorce, there are two possibilities with regard to the husband: The first case is that the husband is obliged to divorce his wife because she is harmed by his impotence, which is most probably the case, unless she accepts it. Sexual intercourse is one of a wife’s rights, however she may choose to give it up. 

The second case is if the wife is not harmed by her husband’s impotence. In that case he is not obliged to divorce her. In fact, it is even more unfavorable for him to do so, because there is no need for it.

As for the wife she has two options: either to continue with the marriage or to ask for divorce after the husband has been given a one year respite to seek treatment. An-Nafraawi the Maaliki scholar   stated that a husband should be given a one-year respite if his wife finds him unable to have intercourse with her, whether because of magic or disease. This would also apply to the case where the wife did not know about her husband’s impotence at the time of their marriage. However, if she knew this at the time of the marriage, then she has no option here for divorce because she accepted it from the beginning.

Allaah Knows best.