My husband has recently become constantly suspicious of me that I did something haram with someone else. He says that he has confirmed these thoughts with a shaykh he spoke with and wants me to admit to it. I have repeatedly told him that this is not true and that I cannot admit to something that I did not do and that did not happen. He does not care what I have to say and insists that I am lying and that the only way we can move on is if am truthful and admit it to him. I have sent him your fatwas regarding such matters, but he only wants to listen to himself and says that he knows that it is true and that the shaykh confirmed it to him. I am trying to be patient, but it is hard. Please advise me. Thank you.

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.

We have previously stated that it is impermissible for the husband to accuse his wife of infidelity without evidence, as doing this is a grave evil. Please refer to fatwa 92038.

If the husband's suspicions amounted to slander, accusing her of committing adultery without evidence, she is entitled to request from the Muslim judge or the entity acting in his stead to subject her husband to the Hadd (corporal punishment prescribed by the Shariah) for slander. The Shariah-acceptable evidence in this context does not include the Shaykh's assumptions or even his certain knowledge.

Assuming that you did commit adultery, you are not obliged to admit it to him. Rather, you are obliged to repent to Allah. The Muslim is required to conceal his sins, as in the hadeeth wherein Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "All the sins of my followers will be forgiven except those of the Mujaahireen (those who commit a sin openly or disclose their sins to the people). An example of such disclosure is that a person commits a sin at night, and though Allah screens it from people, he comes in the morning and says, 'O so-and-so, I did such-and-such last night,' though he spent his night screened by his Lord (none knowing about his sin), and in the morning, he removes the screen of Allah from himself." [Al-Bukhaari and Muslim]

We advise you to be patient and supplicate Allah, the Exalted, to guide your husband to what is right. You may threaten him to inform your family and his family about the matter so that they interfere in solving this problem between you. There is no harm in resorting to this if needed.

Allah knows best.