The Husband's Rights

The Most Preferable Messenger (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household):
“A husband has the biggest right over his wife and a mother has the biggest right over her son, among all people.”

If we take a closer look at the life of the Messenger of Humanity (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household), we would find him always emphasizing on organizing the relationship of married people and protecting the family. He aims by that at preserving the human community considering that the family is the core of building that community.

From this point on, marriage turned out to be the closest bond and the strongest relationship, from which sons hailed, fatherhood was found, brotherhood was born, sibs grew, alliances multiplied and family was created. As a result, the spirit of gathering became the principle of reform, the source of growth and the origin of power, where its welfare means the welfare of the Nation, and in it’s strength resides the strength of the State.

Islam promulgated for marriage a number of rights and obligations that ensure its permanence, welfare and aim in the light of supreme ethics and noble relations where we find the kind, the merciful father and the affectionate mom. In such an environment, the baby is brought up on Islam, grown on virtue and is prepared to bear life’s burdens and charges, as he puts between the eyes the ideals and his desired goal from this life, until the world is built up and Man finds his happiness.

It’s crucial that both parties are aware of their rights and obligations, so that marriage life continues blessed and enlightened to reach the goals set for it,
Let’s have more information about the husband’s rights.

The Importance of a husband’s right:

A husband occupies a very important place in the blessed Sunna (Islam law), as the Messenger of Allah (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) says:
“A husband has the biggest right over his wife.”

He (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) says:
“A husband has the biggest right over his wife and a mother has the biggest right over her son, among all people.”

What emphasizes the greatness of this right is the following Hadith of Imam Al-Baker (p.b.u.h):

“There is no better intercession for a woman with Allah than the contentment of her husband. When Fatima (p.b.u.h) passed away, the Prince of Believers (Imam Ali) (p.b.u.h) stood above her and said: O! Allah! I am consent with the daughter of your Prophet! O Allah! She was saddened, so gladden her heart!”

Also in a Hadith: “A woman never fulfills the right of Allah (all praised) until she fulfills the right of her husband.”

The First Right:

A woman must satisfy her husband’s need which is obeying him when it comes to the special relationship between them. If she refuses, Allah is indignant until her husband is consent with her, and this is what the Messenger of Allah (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household): “I swear by the One who owns my soul, that if a man calls his woman to bed and she refuses, the One is the sky is indignant until he is consent (her husband).”

In another Hadith for the Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) where he answers a woman asking: “What is the husband’s right over his wife?” He says:

“To satisfy his need even it was hard on her and never gives a thing without his permission. If she does she will bear the burden (of her mistake) and he gets rewarded. A woman should never sleep as long as her husband is angry with her.”

The content of his answer involves three rights.

The Second Right:

The duty of preserving his money and the rest of his private belongings during his absence. A woman is also ordered to fulfill this in his presence, so her behavior is not legitimate or admissible unless with (her husband’s) approval and consent as it was clarified in the aforementioned Hadith.

This right means that the Husband’s money is a deposit in the hands of his wife and she must only handle them according to the license he conferred her.

The Third Right: Never upsetting him

The Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) said:
“Tragedy to a woman who upsets her husband and blessed a woman who won the consent of her husband.”

There is no doubt that upsetting is a kind of a forbidden harm, mentioned in the Hadith of the Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household):

“He who has a woman harming him, Allah does not accept her prayer or her good work until she helps him and pleases him, even if she fasted for an eon.”

The Fourth Right:
A woman must not go out without her husband’s permission, and if she does without respecting this condition then she has done the forbidden. As an alert over this point, Imam Al-Sadek (p.b.u.h) says:

“Any woman who goes out without her husband’s permission, she is deprived of expenditure until she returns home.”

The Fifth Right:
Mourning him when he’s dead

A wife must mourn over her dead husband during her waiting period.

In the following Hadith we read:

“A woman who believes in Allah and the Last Day can’t mourn over a dead person for more than three days, except for her husband as she mourns four months and ten days.”

Imam Khomeini (May Allah glorifies his Secret) wrote in his practical letter:

“A woman must mourn over her husband’s death as long as she is in her waiting period. What’s meant by that is removing all the make-up like Kohl and stop wearing perfume, dying her hair, putting blush powder on her cheeks, etc. As for the wardrobe, she must not wear clothes in red and yellow or her jewelry. In short, she must leave everything she used to adorn herself with in front of her husband and in special occasions like holidays and weddings. This differs from a person to another or times and countries, so what is accustomed to in a country is taken into consideration.”

As a result, if a woman fulfills all the rights over her, she is then the good woman whom the Prophet (Allah’s prayers and peace upon Him and his Household) talked about:

“The best pleasure of this world is a good woman.”; “A good wife is a man’s happiness”; “The good woman is one of the winners (in doomsday) .”

The Prince of Believers (p.b.u.h) said:
“A good woman is better than a thousand bad men.”