Wants to move out of her husband’s house to save her faith and to force him to follow the Sunnah
Fatwa No: 96369

Question

salam, i have a very big cocern about my husbad who does not follow the sunnah. we live in a non-muslim country. i have been married with him almost a year. i have been telling him to please stop photo coppying picture of movies and get money from it, and to please start studing islam. however he has not yet accepted. i used everything i can but nothing seem to work. (2)Also the house we live in, we live with other people who does not follow the sunah. they play haram movies talking on the phone bacbiting people for hours. Now I have lost all my Iman, i pray fajr at sunrise every day. i'm scared that i will end up being like them. But now i talked to my pious best friend who told me that whatever leads to haram is itself haram, i should go somewhere until my husband move to that place and stop selling haram things. my question is can i move to my best friend's house to increase my Iman, and to force my husband find another place, and also start practicing the sunnah.? Know that i trying hard to get iman that is why i'm doing this, and also i want my husband to be a pious person so that when i have kids it would be googd for them. please advise me. i love my husband and he loves very much but this my concern, i'm woried that if i live with him like this i will be lost and him too. he is real nice to me, and he has a very nice characters toward everyone. bu i want him to do good for his ahira too. May alah reward you paradise.

Answer

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.

 

We have already referred you to some rulings and guidelines and given you advice about your husband, so please refer to Fatwa 92719.

As regards the matter of accommodation, the jurists stated that a husband is obliged to provide his wife with a separate accommodation which should have its separate amenities and a separate entrance. Therefore, if your husband did not provide you with a separate accommodation, you have the right to ask him to offer you this accommodation. However, in principle, a woman is not permitted to go out of her husband's house without his permission unless she has a sound reason for doing so. Therefore, if your husband does not offer you a separate accommodation even in this house where you live now, then it is permissible for you to move out to another house where you will be more secure about your religion and dignity even without the permission of your husband, especially if you are actually harmed (with regards to your faith) by staying in that house as you mentioned in the question.

As regards your striving in order that your husband sticks to the Sunnah, then this is a good intention and we admonish you to continue advising him with wisdom and soft words and guiding him to do good and refrain from doing evil and earning forbidden money. We recommend that you supplicate Allaah for him and be keen on reminding him with anything that could increase his faith, because once his faith is increased, this will lead him to become righteous.

Finally, we advise you to perform your prayer at its prescribed fixed time and not be negligent about it, as Allaah severely threatened those who neglect or abandon the prayer. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 94113 and 91790.   

Allaah Knows best.

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