and intimacy with her would cause her severe hardship, whether to herself, her fetus, or the like. Or suppose that she has undergone surgery: in that case, he is not permitted to be intimate with her, because it is unlawful for him to harm her. What may harm her must be avoided.

His statement, “or distract her from an obligation”: for example, he asks her for intimacy when she has not prayed and the time for the prayer is about to expire; or he asks to be intimate with her before sunrise when she has not performed the dawn prayer. We say: This is not permissible for you, because you are distracting her from an obligation—namely, performing the prayer within its prescribed time. The same applies if he distracts her from another obligation besides prayer, such as preventing her from making up the fasts of Ramadan when time is short—for example, when only enough days remain in Sha'ban to make up the fasts she owes.

If, for example, he seeks intimacy and physical contact while she is attending the oven, and she says to him, “Wait, so that the bread does not burn,” he has the right to do so, and she is not permitted to delay.

The same applies with regard to the place: he may be intimate with her in any place, unless it harms her, such as when there is cold. Indeed, the jurists stated: even on the back of a camel saddle—that is, a camel’s riding saddle. The point is that it may be in any place and at any time, unless it harms her or distracts her from an obligation.