The Wife's Rights

Imam Al-Sajjad (p.b.u.h) said:
“…and your wife’s right is for you to know that Allah (all praised) made her a refuge and a companion for you.”

With the Letter of Rights

Imam Zein Al-Abidin (p.b.u.h) said:

“…and your wife’s right is for you to know that Allah (all praised) made her a refuge and a companion for you, and that she’s a bless from Allah (all praised). So, honor her and be nice with her. Even if your right over her is greater, you must have mercy on her as she is your prisoner, feed her and cover her (with clothes), and if she ignores forgive her.”

In this blessed part of the Letter of Rights, the Imam (p.b.u.h) discusses the legitimate, literary and financial rights of the wife, through legislating the statement of obligations and duties on one hand, and a touching sentimental guidance on the other.

The Imam (p.b.u.h) presents this relationship from the depths of the heart and true feelings, with a sweet gentle expression from the Holy Quran and writing with its inexhaustible ink that shines with the lights of eternal truth. So the Imam (p.b.u.h) clarifies the relationship of a soul with another soul, of refuge and peace, or love and mercy and of veiling and adorning.

In this frame, what are the rights that must be respected and fulfilled by a husband to his soul mate and life partner, as an execution to the aforementioned relationships enforcement?

This is what we reveal next:

First right: The right of expenditure

Islam has obliged the husband with the wife’s expenses and to provide her with an appropriate habitation according to his financial capabilities. Allah (all praised) said:
{Accommodate them where you also reside, according to your means, and do not harass them to make it difficult upon them}(Surat Al-Talaq; 6)

So a man must offer his wife food, water, clothes, a home and all life necessities, such as medication. So he shouldn’t entertain himself and deprive her, and this is a stable right for her even if she was wealthy.

On the other side, she is not obliged to spend money on him, unless she willingly wanted to because the Shari’a (Law of Islam) did not charge her with it. The following Hadith tells us more about this right:

“A woman’s right over her husband is to feed her hunger, cover her body (with clothes) and never insult her”

In the same context, Isaac son of Ammar said:
“I asked Abi Abdullah Al-Hussein (p.b.u.h): What is the woman’s right over her husband and once he fulfills it he is beneficent.”
The Imam (p.b.u.h) answered: “To feed her and cover her, and when she ignores to forgive her.”

In the following Hadith we also read:
“When a slave spends the money he earned on his family, Allah multiplies every penny he spent seven hundred times.”

Second right: Intimacy

It’s her marriage right to have a special relationship and connection with him as Allah (all praised) wanted it to be. Therefore, the husband has not right to abandon her and stay away from her exceeding by that the duration indicated by the clear law. It’s somehow ugly that a man defects in fulfilling this right to her, and it has been mentioned in the speeches of the Infallible Household (p.b.u.h) dispraising a man taking this right at light.

Third right: Respecting her

She should be treated with respect, so he does not insult her with obscene words even if he was angry or right, and this is what the Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) meant by: “Never insult her”.

He (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) also said:
“The best men of my nation, the ones who don’t insult their family, are kind to them and don’t do them wrong, then he read: {Men are in charge of women, as Allah has made one of them superior to the other}” (Surat Al-Nisa’; 34)

Fourth right: Not harming her

Some men might harm their wives to an extent they would beg for salvation. So she gives up her dowry to get divorced and her husband would be the one who got her to this point, as a result of bad treatment and savage behavior. The husband might be glad that his plan worked out perfectly and reached the goal he had set, through the operation of harming and persecuting his wife. However the truth is that Allah (all praised) and his Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) are innocent of this man and what the lady had to pay is forbidden for him.

The Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) said:
“…Allah and his Prophet are innocent of a person who harmed a woman to divorce him.”

He (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) also said:
“I wonder from the one who beats his wife, yet he deserves the beating more.”