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Fatwa CenterRuling on a woman asking for divorce before marriage consummation
Question
i came aross this ... “There is no sin on you, if you divorce women while yet you have not touched (had sexual relation with) them, nor appointed unto them their Mahr (bridal-money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage)” [al-Baqarah 2:236] my question is, does this mean that if before consummation the wife asks for khula - or the husband divorces her - it is not a sin to do so, even if they chose to break the marriage over no or little reason? ... Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Any woman who asks for divorce when there is no reason, the fragrance of Paradise will be forbidden to her.” so my 2nd question is, was Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) only referring to the wives that have consummated, not the ones that have not consummated yet? ... if a wife asks the marriage to be broken before consummation, will the fragrance of paradise be forbidden on her also? i am in nikah, but no wedding has took place yet. i am confused over my reasons, and not sure whether my reasons are valid or not. therefore, i would like to know, even if my reasons are not valid for breaking the marriage, or lets say i have no reason to break this marriage, and still break this marriage, then would i be sinning by doing so? regardless of whether mahr has been given to me or not?? Thank you
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
The verse in Al-Baqarah chapter which you mentioned in the question [Quran 2:236] indicates that the husband is permitted to divorce his wife before consummating the marriage. Ibn Katheer 
said in his Tafseer (interpretation of the Quran): “Allaah, The Almighty, has made it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife after concluding the marriage contract with her and before consummating the marriage with her.”
Although the verse indicates this, it also clarifies the ruling of a divorcee whose husband did not consummate the marriage with her and did not name a dowry for her, saying that there is no sin if someone does this but it is desirable for the husband to give her a gift of compensation. Al-Qurtubi said in his Tafseer: “This is also a ruling for divorced women. It is firstly a declaration that there is nothing wrong with the husband divorcing his wife before consummating the marriage with her, whether or not he has already specified a dowry for her…so the verse was revealed to indicate the permissibility of this provided that the marriage was basically concluded with good intentions.”
However, it is undesirable for a husband to divorce his wife without a sound reason whether before the consummation of the marriage or after it. Some scholars said that it is prohibited. For more benefit, kindly refer to Fatwa 87786.
On the other hand, it is not permissible for the wife to ask her husband for divorce without a sound reason whether before the consummation of the marriage or after it due to the Hadeeth cited in this regard which you mentioned in the question. We have already clarified this in Fataawa 88408 and 131953.
Hence, the threat that is mentioned in the question is applicable to asking for divorce before the consummation of the marriage and after it. The Hadeeth has a general context and not limited to after the consummation of the marriage.
The sound reasons for asking for divorce are stated in the Fatwa mentioned above. If we presume that there is a sound reason for asking for divorce, then it might not always be the best solution for the wife, so you should be aware of this.
Allaah Knows best.
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