The Wife’s Disgust with her Husband and the Necessity of Divorce at the Wife’s Instigation in the Holy Quran

The husband’s sexual disgust has no legal or ethical consequences for him; since the man who feels disgust with his wife can divorce her or marry another woman. However, is it possible for a woman who feels disgust with his husband to terminate her marriage through the divorce at the wife’s instigation or not? The famous Imamiyyah jurisprudents hold that the divorce at the wife’s instigation is by no means obligatory for the husband and believe that the wife in this situation has no choice but to be patient and to keep self-denial. Their most important reason for the lack of obligation of the divorce at the wife’s instigation is the ayah 229 of the surah Al-Baqarah and the traditions surrounding it. In contrast, a group of jurisprudents has considered the divorce obligatory in these cases. Some believe that the wife’s sexual disgust with her husband may expose her to corruption and if there is no way but to divorce, it becomes obligatory. Another group, relying on the rule of no-hardship, decree that it is obligatory for the husband. The wife’s sexual disgust with her husband deprives her of sexual relations and causes mental pressures and in the case when there is no choice but divorce for the woman, it is obligatory for the husband to get her divorced and dissolute the marriage. The present text tries to prove the theory of the obligation of preventive divorce; meanwhile it aims at criticizing the theory of the lack of obligation of divorce.