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Fatwa CenterHis wife took off Niqaab for breathing difficulty
Question
Alhamdulilaah my wife is pregnant and since then she has trouble breathing through the niqab.so we discussed this & she asked me to ask someone of knowledge if she can take it off,she didnt want to hear from what i already know of the matter nor did she want to even hear any options that i wanted to suggest e.g finding better quality material and thinner & this really angered me so i want on islam qa and this is the link http://islamqa.info/en/ref/34544 regarding a sister who had the same issue.my wife read this fatwa and she said she will find better material.then she spoke to her friend the next day who has some knowledge in islam and she told her that she can take niqab off as she did when she was 7months preg and that i cant force her to wear it because its in dangering her health.she is suffering with breathing and i want to help her not harm her but she doesnt give any attenition to my feelings nor what i have told her to do she hasnt suggested anything like she will look for better,thinner material and that she will only be out of the house for necessities until after i made this a condition she just keeps saying the foetus needs oxygen and that she has tried the better niqab and it will be the same my wife also goes out to visit friends,bbq gatherings at times that she does not inform me about and from what i see and feel she takes this matter very lightly yes there are times i dont mind but there have been times where she will have dinner at her friends place where her friends mum and brother are kafr and he has come home before while they are there and i wasnt informed untill after its over she always says that i got a bad jealousy problem when i think its normal for a muslim man to have gheerah for his wife & i dont think you can ever have 2 much gheerah i mean i never think i dont trust my wife its just im a very jealous man for my wife in front of non mahrams.
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
According to the preponderant view of the scholars 
it is an obligation upon a woman to cover her face in the presence of non-Mahram men, and we have already clarified this in Fataawa 92091 and 99167.
Therefore, your wife should cover her face with something that will not cause her difficulty in breathing if she can find something to do so. This obligation is more confirmed when you order her to do so. However, if the harm is not removed in all cases, then it becomes permissible for her to unveil her face. Nonetheless, she is obliged to stay at home and not go out except for a necessity in order to fulfill her needs.
In principle, she is not allowed to go out of her home except with your permission as clarified in Fatwa 177413. So, if she goes out without your permission, then she is sinful and recalcitrant. In which case, you have the right to discipline her according to the steps clarified in the Sharee’ah as mentioned in Fatwa 85402.
Finally, if jealousy does not exceed the limits of moderateness, and is not based on suspicion and illusions, then it is praised jealousy and it is not dispraised at all. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 156495.
Allaah Knows best.
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