He replied:

Praise be to Allah. If he travelled with her without her husband’s permission, he is subject to discretionary punishment for doing so. The wife is likewise subject to discretionary punishment if she could have remained behind. She is not entitled to maintenance from the time she departed. And Allah knows best.

He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked: (*)

Concerning a man who married a woman eleven years ago. She had lived harmoniously with him, but now refuses to continue marital life with him and is defiant toward him. What is required of her?

He replied:

It is not lawful for her to be defiant toward him or to refuse him intimacy. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“No man calls his wife to his bed and she refuses him without the One who is above the heaven being angry with her until morning.”

If she persists in her defiance, he may strike her. If a woman does not fulfil her obligations toward her husband, he is not obliged to divorce her and give her the dower. Rather, she must secure her release from him by offering her dower in return for his separation from her, just as “the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, instructed, concerning the wife of Thābit ibn Qays ibn Shammās, that her dower be handed over and that he separate from her.” If he cannot afford to pay the dower, it is not permissible to demand payment from him, according to the consensus of the Muslims.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

Concerning a man who married a woman but derives no benefit from his marriage to her. She does not comply with him in any matter, yet demands maintenance and clothing from him and has made his affairs difficult. Is she entitled to maintenance and clothing from him?