Obligatory Ruling of Unjustified Leaving Family Life by the Husband Reliance on the Wife’s Sexual Intercourse Right in the Jurisprudence of the Five Major Schools

According to the note of Article 1130 of the Civil Code, leaving the family by the husband based on certain conditions is considered as an example of difficulty and trouble and gives the wife the right to divorce. However, it seems that before the establishment of the right for the wife, according to sexual intercourse right (Ḥaqq al-Waṭy) for her, the husband is considered sinful and Nāshiz (a man who refuses to fulfill his marital duties) in leaving his family unjustified and the wife can ask the judge to compel him the right of sexual intercourse. The present study aimed at examining the ‘obligatory ruling of unjustified leaving family life by the husband reliance on the wife’s sexual intercourse right in the jurisprudence of the five major sects’ by the descriptive-analytical method and through studying the jurisprudential books of the five major sects. At the end of this study, it has been concluded that there is a difference of opinion in the jurisprudence of the five major schools regarding the extent of the wife’s sexual intercourse right.  In Ḥanafī jurisprudence, although it is obligatory for the husband doing reasonable sexual intercourse, wife’s sexual intercourse right is once during the entire marriage time. So, although the husband is sinful for leaving the sexual intercourse, he cannot be forced to do so. In Shāfiʻī jurisprudence, the wife has no sexual intercourse right, so the husband is free in this regard. In Mālikī jurisprudence, the wife has the right once every four nights and the husband can be forced to the same amount. Shīʻī well-known and Ḥanbalī jurists believe that the wife has the right once in every four months, which their evidences have been undermined in this study, and the theory of the right of sexual intercourse based on reasonable and customary needs of wife has been proved. Consequently, the husband is obligated to pay attention to the wife’s required and reasonable sexual intercourse and if he leaves it for an unjustified reason, he will be considered sinful and will be forced to do so.