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Fatwa CenterMaking a condition preventing the wife's parents from visiting her
Question
A husband laid down a condition that his wife's mother must not enter his home nor must he enter hers. Is that husband considered guilty under Sharee‘ah for preventing that woman from visiting her daughter? Is the daughter guilty because she accepted that condition in order to have her marital contract concluded? Is the wife's family entitled to treat him in the same way and sever kinship ties with that undutiful girl? Is it permissible under Sharee‘ah to prevent her from her share in inheritance as a punishment for being undutiful to her parents? Noting that the contract was concluded first and then the husband set this as a condition for the consummation of the marriage.
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.
Marriage in Islam is not just a bond between a husband and wife; rather it is a bond between two families or two tribes. The Quran highlighted this meaning in the verse in which Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {And it is He Who Has Created from water a human being and Made him [a relative by] lineage and marriage. And Ever Is your Lord Competent [concerning creation].} [Quran 25: 54]
Commenting on the verse, Al-Asma‘i 
said, “The marriage relation includes the husband and wife's relatives, who are the in-laws.”
Consequently, when a husband makes a condition that his wife must not allow her parents to visit her in his home, such a condition contradicts the purposes of marriage in Islam, leads to severing kinship ties and spoils relations among people, and therefore it is prohibited under Sharee‘ah. Scholars stated that a husband is not entitled to prevent his wife's parents from visiting her. The Hanbali scholar, Ar-Rayhabaani stated, “The husband is entitled neither to prevent his wife from her parents nor to prevent them from visiting her, because no one should be obeyed when it comes to disobeying The Creator. This is permissible, however, when there is an expected harm from this and that condition is intended to ward it off.”
This means that the husband is not permitted to prevent his wife's parents, or one of them, from visiting her in his home, and the condition he made is invalid. Such a condition is not binding on the part of the wife unless he is afflicted with harm due to their visit. In the latter case, however, he is allowed to prevent them in order to ward off harm. In a Hadeeth, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “A man is more entitled to receive a thing given as a gift on account of his daughter or sister (than other kinds of gifts).” [An-Nasaa’i and Abu Daawood]
The wife's family should not sever kinship ties with her if she did. That is because maintaining kinship ties is obligatory, and the second party's severing of kinship ties is not a justification for one to do the same thing. In a Hadeeth, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “The person who is considered a maintainer of kinship ties is not the one who recompenses the good done to him by his relatives, but he is the one who keeps good relations with those who sever kinship ties with him.” [Al-Bukhari and others]
They are also not permitted to prevent her from her share in inheritance when one of her relatives from whom she inherits dies. Severing kinship ties does not prevent her from her right in inheritance. Allaah The Exalted Says (what means): {For men is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, and for women is a share of what the parents and close relatives leave, be it little or much – an obligatory share.} [Quran 4: 7]
We ask Allaah to Render the members of this family merciful to each other and maintainers of ties of kinship and to Remove rancor and conflict from among them.
Allaah Knows best.
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