And the proof for this is the Almighty’s words: “Either retain them honorably, or release them with kindness” (Al-Baqarah 2:229); keeping a wife while withholding her maintenance can never be called an honorable retention.

Ibn al-Munzir said: “It is established that ʿUmar wrote to the individual soldiers, ordering them either to provide for their wives or to divorce them. Therefore, once a man’s inability to maintain his wife is confirmed, she is entitled to annul the marriage without delay.”

Imam Abū Ḥanīfah, however, held that insolvency does not entitle the wife to dissolve the marriage. The husband is instructed to borrow, the wife to be patient, the maintenance remains a debt upon the husband, and no dissolution takes place.

This was also the view of ʿAṭāʾ, al-Zuhrī, Ibn Shubruma, Abū Ḥanīfah’s two companions, and is one report from Imam Aḥmad.

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī said: “The sounder of the two reports from Aḥmad is that the wife does not possess the right to annul the marriage on account of her husband’s hardship. Allah says: ‘Let a man of means spend according to his means; and whoever’s provision is restricted, let him spend from what Allah has given him. Allah does not burden a soul beyond what He has given it. Allah will grant ease after hardship’ (Al-Ṭalāq 65:7). The verse offers no right of annulment to the insolvent man’s wife, nor is there any authentic report from the Prophet ﷺ permitting such annulment because of insolvency. Allah knows best.”