The Jurisprudential Analysis of the Husband’s Authority in Prohibiting His Wife from Performing the Recommended Hajj

Traditions explain that the wife must carry out specific religious duties, like the recommended Hajj, with her husband’s consent; otherwise, her Hajj pilgrimage is invalid. The degree of the husband’s authority in preventing his wife from performing Hajj, however, is up for debate and varies depending on jurists’ views on his right to enjoy his wife. The findings of this research, attained by examining the evidence and using software and library resources, reveal that if jurists hold that enjoying the wife is a right that Sharia unquestionably establishes for him at all times, in any case, her Hajj performance will be invalid without his consent. But if jurists determine through the evidence that the husband has a fixed general right of enjoyment or if jurists do not find the possibility of enjoyment with regard to the said right improbable, the validity of the recommended Hajj performed by the wife solely depends on whether it does not conflict with her husband’s right. The husband’s permission is required only in cases of conflict.