It is a sunnah for each spouse to refine his or her character toward the other, to show gentleness, and to bear any annoyance. The Exalted One says, “Show kindness to parents … and to the companion at your side” (Q 4:36)—which, according to some scholars, refers to each of the spouses. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Treat women well, for they are like captives in your hands.”

A husband should keep his wife even when he feels aversion toward her, for Allah says, “Live with them in kindness; and if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good” (Q 4:19). Commenting on this verse, Ibn ʿAbbās said, “Perhaps Allah grants him a child through her, and He puts abundant good in that child.” A sound hadith likewise states, “A believing man must not hate a believing woman; if he dislikes one trait of hers, he will be pleased with another.”

Once the marriage contract is concluded, the wife—provided she is of an age customarily cohabited with—must be handed over to the husband in his home if he requests it, unless the contract stipulates that she remain in her own house or town.

The husband may travel with his wife on any journey that involves neither sin nor danger, for the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions used to travel with their wives. Most journeys undertaken nowadays, however, are trips to foreign non-Muslim lands—places of permissiveness and moral corruption. It is therefore unlawful to travel to such places merely for recreation and sightseeing, for that entails