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Fatwa CenterHer husband accused her of cheating after she asked him for divorce
Question
Asaalmalakum My sister in law has asked her husband for a divorce, after been together for 13 years and had two children. In that 13 years he has not worked one day to support his children and his wife.he has been travelling to the middle east when ever he wanted to for long period of time up to 2 -3 months. He has played no role in bringing up the children.Basically he has been doing what ever he wanted to. His typical day would be waching tv, interet, sleepin for long hrs, basically living like a bachulor. even sometime throwing verbal abuse at her. It has got to a point, my sister in law feels that there is no love or caring from his side.she wants him to give her a divorece. He is now accusing her of having an affair swearing making false accusations. She is very upset, and wants to know her rights as a muslim woman, ma salaam
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 issued Fataawa 83157 and 85308 clarifying the duties of the spouses towards each other. Therefore, this husband is obligated to spend on his wife and two children and he is obligated to have good marital relationship with his wife. Being negligent in this regard without having a sound reason is a sin. ‘Abdullaah ibn ‘Amr ibn Al-’Aas 
narrated that he heard the Prophet saying: “It is enough a sin for a person not to provide means of sustenance to those whom he is obliged to support.” [Ahmad and Abu Daawood]
This wife has the right to ask her husband to compensate her for her maintenance during the previous period as long as she was not considered as a disobedient wife because there is no maintenance for a disobedient wife according to the agreement of the scholars 
. If she had spent on her two children, then she also has the right to ask her husband to compensate her for doing so if she had spent on her children with the intention of asking her husband to compensate her, otherwise she has no right to ask for compensation as we clarified in Fatwa 85012. Besides, a wife is not permitted to ask her husband to divorce her except in some cases that we clarified in Fatwa 88408.
Hence, if the wife is harmed by staying with her husband, then she has the right to ask for divorce. However, she should not hasten to do so, as it might be that being patient with him and trying to rectify him is better for her than asking for divorce, especially that she had children with her.
The following two matters should be mentioned:
1- It is permissible for the husband to be absent from his wife up to a period of six months, but he is not permitted to prolong his absence more than six months except with her permission.
2- It is not permissible for the husband to accuse his wife of having an affair with another man without evidence. Nonetheless, we advise the wife to protect her dignity and stay away from suspicious places. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 87877.
Finally, it should be mentioned that this woman is still considered as a wife unless she gets divorce from her husband or from an Islamic court if she takes her matter to it. For further information, refer to Fatwa 82732.
Allaah Knows best.
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