she is not to obey him, for there is no obedience to a created being in disobedience to the Creator. It is well known that filing the teeth is among the major sins.
If he says, “You must cut your head hair to the earlobes,” while she says, “No; I want my hair to remain like that of upright women,” then he has no right to compel her, because this contradicts Allah’s saying: “Live with them in kindness.”
A dhimmī woman is not to be compelled to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity.
His statement, “A dhimmī woman is not to be compelled to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity”: on this issue, the author differs from the well-known position of the madhhab. At times, the author departs from the madhhab. The madhhab holds that a dhimmī woman may be compelled to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity, whereas the author holds that she may not be compelled; and each view has its basis.
The author’s view is that she is not to be compelled to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity, since she is not among those who pray, such that she would be required to perform it. The madhhab, however, maintains that the repeated persistence of sexual impurity affects the husband psychologically, and that offensive odours may arise from the accumulation of such states upon her. Therefore, he may compel her to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity, even though she would not be doing so voluntarily for Allah’s sake—for this bath would not be accepted from her, and she has no prayer for which she must purify herself.
Thus, the correct view is that of the madhhab: a dhimmī woman may be compelled to perform the major ritual bath after sexual impurity, because this is connected to sexual enjoyment. This is why one is instructed to bathe before resuming intercourse. Moreover, if she does not bathe, she remains sexually sluggish. Likewise, she may be compelled to perform the ritual bath following menstruation, because menstruation concerns the place of sexual enjoyment, and it is well known that it has a foul odour which the soul finds repulsive.