to what is good: she may attend women’s gatherings, exhort them, and explain the sacred law to them. Or she may be a woman who likes to visit her relatives. In such cases, he should not prevent her.

Second: her going out may cause harm either to him or to her.

As for harm to him, going out may corrupt her attitude toward her husband. For instance, when she visits her mother, her mother may ask about her circumstances and then say, “Look at so-and-so—how good their food is, for example!” This is corrupting her attitude, for women are quick to notice such things. She may then belittle what her husband provides and become discontented with him. In this case, he may prevent her from visiting her mother, because her mother is corrupting her attitude toward him.

Likewise, her attitude toward her husband may be corrupted in another way. She may, for example, see in the street someone whose appearance and youth appeal to her, while her husband is less so than him, and thus she may begin to desire him. For souls are ever inclined to evil, and she may thereby become discontented with her husband. In that case, he may prevent her.

Third: her going out may entail neither benefit nor harm. In that case, it is preferable for him to advise her not to go out, saying: “The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Do not prevent the female servants of Allah from the mosques of Allah, though their houses are better for them’” (1).

But if she insists on going out, then it is preferable that he not prevent her. Rather, he should give her a measure of freedom, so that her love for him may increase and their companionship may remain pleasant. Every situation calls for its own approach, and the sensible, wise person knows how to conduct himself in this matter.