I believe that my mother-in-law has cast a magic spell to make my husband divorce me. I suffered greatly from this spell. Is it permissible for me to leave the family of my husband until they repent to Allaah The Almighty? What should my husband do?

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, sallallaahu 'alyhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Practicing and learning magic is a major sin and Muslims are forbidden to do so. If a Muslim does this, they must

1-      Repent immediately.

2-      Stop doing so.

3-      Regret doing so.

4-      Resolve not to do so again.

It is impermissible to accuse someone of practicing magic, simply because of doubt. A person should make sure whether another person is performing magic or not. If the questioner is certain or almost certain that her mother-in-law has cast a magic spell on her, she should turn to Allaah The Almighty and depend on Him. Moreover, she should be patient with what Allaah The Almighty has ordained, and ask a righteous Shaykh to treat her.

It is permissible for your husband, whether his mother has cast a magic spell or not, to leave his mother's house and live in a separate house. This does not contradict treating his mother kindly. However, if his mother needs him to serve her or do something for her and he cannot do that without living with her, then he must live with her.  However, such a thing should not affect you, since having a separate house, where you and your husband live by yourselves, is one of the wife’s rights over her husband. Despite this, we advise you not to burden your husband with great expenses in this regard out of kindness to him, and out of consideration for his feelings. We also advise you to be patient with your mother-in-law, and bear with her, within the bounds of the religion.

Allaah Knows best.