My ex-husband divorced me and would not let me have my kids. Before he divorced me, he forced me out of the home and drugged me, trying to make me fornicate, and he lied and said that I was adulterous. What kind of ruling can be given?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The divorced woman is more entitled to having custody of her children than the father as long as there are no impediments, such as in the case that she remarried after the divorce or the like, as has been underlined in fatwa 84618. Your husband has no right to deny you the right to the custody over your children without a valid reason.

Forcing the wife out of the house contradicts the enjoined good companionship among the spouses. It goes against the divine command to live with one's wife in kindness; Allah, The Exalted, says (what means): {...And live with them in kindness. For if you dislike them - perhaps you dislike a thing and Allah makes therein much good.} [Quran 4:19] Even if the wife is disobedient and rebellious, the Islamic Shariah has set the methods to address this problem, as explained in fatwa 85402.

The husband resorting to drugging his wife is an evil and hideous act; it involves injustice to her. We do not know what you mean by your statement “trying to make me fornicate.” If you mean that he enticed another man to violate your honor or the like, then that is a serious matter and a grave sin. Accusing a Muslim of committing adultery without evidence is considered slander. The Islamic Shariah has prescribed a punishment for slander in the worldly life and another one on the Day of Judgment. The Hadd (corporal punishment) of slander is not waived unless the accuser brings forth evidence to prove his accusation or resorts to Li‘aan (oath of condemnation) in case of a husband accusing his wife of adultery.

Allah, The Exalted, says (what means):

- {And those who accuse chaste women and then do not produce four witnesses - lash them with eighty lashes and do not accept from them testimony ever after. And those are the defiantly disobedient.} [Quran 24:4]

- {And those who accuse their wives (of adultery) and have no witnesses except themselves - then the witness of one of them (shall be) four testimonies (swearing) by Allah that indeed, he is of the truthful.} [Quran 24:6]

We would like to remind the husbands to fear Allah, The Almighty, and be mindful of Him with regards to their wives and avoid injustice. Indeed, injustice will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection. If they are not deterred, they should bear in mind that Allah, The Almighty, is able to ‎retaliate against them. Allah, The Exalted, says (what means): {...But if they (wives) obey you (once more), seek no means against them. Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand.} [Quran 4:34]

Ibn Katheer wrote, “The end of the verse {Indeed, Allah is ever Exalted and Grand} threatens men saying that if they wrongfully transgress against their wives, then Allah, The Almighty, is the Protector of the wives, and He will exact revenge on those who transgressed against them and treated them unjustly.” [Tafseer Ibn Katheer]

Allah knows best.