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Sunan Abī Dāwūd Ḥadīth [2226] – If a woman seeks divorce without a valid reason

5 December 2020 · 20 Rabīʿ II 1442 AH

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حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا حَمَّادٌ، عَنْ أَيُّوبَ، عَنْ أَبِي قِلَابَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي أَسْمَاءَ، عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللّٰهِ صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: >أَيُّمَا امْرَأَةٍ سَأَلَتْ زَوْجَهَا طَلَاقًا فِي غَيْرِ مَا بَأْسٍ، فَحَرَامٌ عَلَيْهَا رَائِحَةُ الْجَنَّةِ<

Reference

Book [13]: Divorce (Kitāb aṭ-ṭalāq)
Chapter [18]: Regarding khul’

Translation

Ḥadīth [2226]: It is narrated on the authority of Thawbān [d. 54H] (may Allāh be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of Allāh (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: “If any woman asks her husband for divorce without some strong reason, the fragrance of Paradise will be forbidden to her.”

Takhrīj

• Sunan at-Tirmidhī (1187)
• Sunan ibn Mājah (2055)
• Sunan ad-Dārimī (2270 (2/134))
• Musnad Aḥmad (22379 (37/62-63) & 22440 (37/112)) [Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ]
• Musnad Aḥmad (22279 (16/290) & 22339 (16/306)) [Aḥmad Shākir]
• Ṣaḥīḥ ibn Ḥibbān (4184 (9/490-491))
• Ṣaḥīḥ Mawārid aẓ-Ẓamān (1104 (1/529))
• Muṣannaf ibn Abī Shaybah (20400 (10/504))
• Bayhayqī’s Sunan al-Kubrā (14860 (5/517))
• Al-Mu’jam al-Awsaṭ (5469 (5/333))
• Al-Mustadrak ‘alā aṣ-Ṣaḥīḥayn (2845 (3/658))
• Sharḥ as-Sunnah (9/195)
• Tafsīr aṭ-Ṭabarī (4/151-152)

→ Non-primary books:

• Ṣaḥīḥ at-Targhīb (2018 (1/450))
• Kanzul ‘Ummāl (45007 (16/382))
• Tafsīr ibn Kathīr (2/179-180)
• ‘Umdatul Tafsīr [Aḥmad Shākir] (1/279)
• Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ (3279)
• Al-Jāmi’ aṣ-Ṣaghīr [Suyūṭī] (2944 (1/176))
• Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi’ (2706 (1/526))
• Irwā' al-Ghalīl (2035 (7/100-101))
• Al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil (6604 (9/312-314))
• Talkhīṣ al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil (6604 (2/761))

Grading
• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh al-Albānī (Sunan Abī Dawūd, Sunan at-Tirmidhī, Sunan ibn Mājah Ṣaḥīḥ al-Jāmi & Ṣaḥīḥ at-Targhīb)
• Ṣaḥīḥ by Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ‘Alī Za'ī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī)
• Ṣaḥīḥ by Shaykh Dr. Ḍiyā'-ur-Raḥmān al-‘Aẓamī (Al-Jāmi’ al-Kāmil)
• Ṣaḥīḥ isnād by Ḥāfiẓ Zubayr ‘Alī Za'ī (Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Sunan ibn Mājah & Mishkāt al-Maṣābīḥ)
• Ṣaḥīḥ isnād by Shaykh Dr. Ḥamzah Aḥmad Zayn (Musnad Aḥmad (22339 (16/306)))
• Ṣaḥīḥ isnād by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ (Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Sunan ibn Mājah & Musnad Aḥmad)
• Ḥasan by Imām at-Tirmidhī (Sunan at-Tirmidhī)
• Ḥasan by Imām as-Suyūṭī (Al-Jāmi’ aṣ-Ṣaghīr)
• Qawī isnād by Shaykh Shu’ayb al-Arna'ūṭ (Sharḥ as-Sunnah)
• Ḍa’īf isnād by Shaykh Dr. Ḥamzah Aḥmad Zayn (Musnad Aḥmad (22279 (16/290)))

Commentary

Commentary by Ḥāfiẓ ibn Ḥajr al-'Asqalānī (may Allāh have mercy upon him)

The reports which warn a woman against asking her husband for a divorce are to be understood as referring to cases where there is no reason for doing that.

• Reference: [Fatḥul Bārī fī-Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (16/131 [9/402]) under the ḥadīth no. 5276-5277]

Commentary by Dārussalām (Sunan Abī Dāwūd)

In case there is no conjugal felicity or harmony among couples, and the husband is unwilling to divorce and the wife is insisting on separation, there is no other way for the wife except to go to a qāḍī (judge) and present her case before him. If the judge, after reviewing the facts of the case, asks the wife to return the mahr (bridal-money) the husband gave her, and then he revokes the marriage agreement binding them, this kind of separation is called khul’ (dislocation, discharge, etc..) in Islāmic law.

• Reference: [2226 (3/48), Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Dārussalām (Jāmi’ at-Tirmidhī)

The sharī’ah aims to see the relationship of a husband wife as permanent and lifelong, for this reason it has been suggested to overlook the weaknesses and drawbacks of each other, and pay no heed to small inaccuracies. Though khul’ and divorce are lawful, yet they have not been encouraged.

• Reference: [1187 (2/557), Jāmi’ at-Tirmidhī, Dārussalām (Eng)]

Commentary by Dārussalām (Sunan ibn Mājah)

❶ Khul’ is kind of annulment in which a wife seeks divorce from her husband by giving him a certain compensation, or returning back the mahr (bridal-money) which he gave her to get annulment of the marriage. A husband is not allowed to demand all what he has spent on her, or to demand more than the fixed dowry.
❷ Khul’ is legal if a woman does not want to live with her husband while the husband wants to live with her. If a person deliberately troubles his wife in order to force her to eventually demand a khul’, then the husband is guilty of oppressions.

• Reference: [2055 (3/175-176), Sunan ibn Mājah, Dārussalām (Eng)]

3. Sunan Abī DāwūdAḥādīth

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