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Her husband only has intercourse with her every four months

17-06-2009

Question 22026

If a husband has sex with his wife every four (on a constant basis) months but it does not fulfill the woman's sexual needs, then is there any Islamic recourse that a woman can take concerning this matter? Is it fair that a man can have sex with his wife everyday but the wife can only have sex every four months with her husband? (after all it is not like she can marry another man to satisfy her needs, but her husband has ample room to satisfy his needs).

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

This action is undoubtedly wrong, and it is contrary to good treatment of one's wife. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“and live with them honourably”

[al-Nisa 4:19] 

“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect) to what is reasonable”

[al-Baqarah 2:228] 

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

“The best of you are those who are best to their wives.” Narrated by al-Tirmidhi, 3895; classed as saheeh by al-Albani in Saheeh al-Tirmidhi.  

It follows from this that the husband has to have intercourse with his wife in the manner that is sufficient to meet her needs. It is not a part of living with her honourably to forsake her for this length of time, namely four months. If that causes harm to the woman, then she has the right to demand an annulment of the marriage, 

With regard to the comment made by some of the scholars, that the husband only has to have intercourse with his wife once every four months, this is a weak view, for which there is no clear saheeh (sound) evidence. The correct view is that he has to have intercourse with his wife as often as will satisfy her needs, because of the shar’i principles mentioned above. 

Rights of spouses
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