By Haider Hobbollah

Translated by Sadiq Meghjee (UK)

There are a variety of opinions expressed by Muslim jurists on the matter of the sexual right of the wife. There are more than 6 different views on this issue, some scholars from the Shāfi’ī school concluded that the wife has no right at all, Abu Hanifa (d. 150 H) came close to this opinion by saying that the wife was entitled to one opportunity during the entire marriage. Other scholars said that the wife is entitled to one opportunity every four lunar months, and this opinion is famous amongst the Shi’ī and the Hanbali school. Other scholars said that the wife is entitled to one opportunity every four nights, and this was the opinion of the Mālikī school as well as Ghazālī (d. 505 H). Others argued that the criteria for what the wife was entitled to depended on what was suitable for her, and this was put forward by ibn Taymiyya (d. 728 H). A number of contemporary researchers and jurists have also supported this view, such as Dr. Abdul Karīm Zaydān (d. 2014).

It became popular also amongst Shi’ī scholars that the husband should grant the wife the opportunity as frequently as she requires it if there is fear of her committing adultery, and this was the opinion of Allāmah Fadhlullah (d. 2010), where he concluded that the wife of the right was the same as the right of the husband, just as the husband is entitled to ask whenever he wants, he too should ensure to meet the needs of the wife whenever she requires it.

The conclusions that I have reached in an article that I published in 2009 which I then published in my book, is that the wife is entitled to whatever would help in overcoming any moral deviation and whatever custom and common sense decides to be appropriate, therefore fulfilling the Qur’ānic command to “treat them with goodness” (4:94). For this reason you will not find any mention of specific times or limits in the religion, neither is it acceptable to argue that the right of the wife is merely limited to fear of her committing sins. Similarly it is not acceptable what Allāmah Fadhlullah concluded either, as the man would be unable to say no to any request made from the wife, rather this is a matter that is left to custom and common sense. On this basis I have concluded that this matter is not to do with merely how many times a man should allow his wife her right, but rather it is connected with the broader picture of what is expected from a man and ensuring that he is not failing in his duties in what is expected of him from the perspective of local custom and common sense, and these change according to time and place.

To read more on this, please refer to Huqūq al-Zawjat al-Jinsiyya in my book Dirasāt fi al-Fiqh al-Islamī al-Mu’āsir, v. 2, p. 453-485.

Haidar Hobbollah Tuesday, 14^th September 2021