- “If a woman fears arrogance or desertion on the part of her husband, neither of them will be blameworthy if they reconcile between themselves by reaching a settlement; reconciliation is better. Souls are prone to selfishness, but if you act with excellence and remain mindful of Allah, then surely Allah is All-Aware of all that you do.” (al-Nisāʾ 128)
This represents a marital situation different from the two previously mentioned. Those earlier cases concerned: (i) the wife’s defiance, and (ii) the eruption of dispute and hostility between the spouses. Here, it is the husband who has become disinclined toward his wife—either because love has faded or because he covets something else. In such circumstances Allah guides them to the course that will put matters right: the path of reconciliation initiated by the wife or her guardian so that the husband may return to proper conduct. The wife may voluntarily forgo part of the right she is owed by her husband, on condition that she remain with him, and he must then resume the objectives of marriage, or at least some of them. She might be content with a reduced allowance for maintenance, clothing, or housing; she may waive her right to equal turns; or she may give up her allotted day and night to her husband—or, with his permission, to her co-wife.
Whenever they reach agreement on any such arrangement, there is no sin and no harm. It is better than [litigation] (1) over rights, which often breeds coldness or ends in separation. For this reason He said, “Reconciliation is better.” This is a tremendous principle in every matter—particularly in disputed rights: an amicable settlement is superior to each party insisting on every last entitlement, for reconciliation preserves affection and embodies the trait of magnanimity. Such settlements are permissible among Muslims in all areas, except one that makes the unlawful lawful or the lawful unlawful.
Know, furthermore, that no ruling is complete or fully effective unless its enabling causes exist and its impediments are removed. That applies equally to this great ruling of reconciliation: