All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of The Worlds, and may His peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all of his family and companions.
Coercing the wife to travel for the purpose of performing an act of obedience or a lawful travel in general isn’t of the kind treatment that should exist between the spouses, rather all the matters between them should be based on mutual consent and free will as they are the basis of a successful relationship.
Moreover, coercing the wife to do something regardless of the reason might be harmful to her, a cause of disaffection toward the husband as well she might be disinclined towards acts of devotion which finally turns her apostate as a result of husband’s insistency to prove his control over her whereas it remains incomplete till he coerced her to do what he wants. Since the Prophet (PBUH) said (What means): ”The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wives." [Related by At-Tirmithi].
Despite the above mentioned, we (Iftaa’ Dept.) advise the wife to avoid disobeying her husband if the latter requested her to travel with him in order not to be a reason of dissention as he likes her company, because if she refused to travel without a valid excuse then she will be in the prohibited rebellious state. In this regard, jurists stated: the husband is permitted to coerce the wife to travel with him so long as it is a lawful travel, but in case of refusal, she will be considered a rebellious wife and her expenditure is no longer due on him.
Further, the husband isn’t permitted to coerce his wife to perform the obligatory Hajj, yet she is obliged to obey him in this regard and at the time their destination is reached, she must take advantage of it by performing this great act of devotion whereas Muslims from all over the world gather for this purpose.
Finally, Al-Mawrdi stated: ’’If the wife refused to travel with her husband without any valid excuse such as illness which makes her unable to do so, then she is a rebellious wife and no longer liable to receive husband’s expenditure.’’ [Al-Hawwi Al-Khabeer vol.9 pp.590]. And Allah knows best.
