How long can a husband be absent abroad from his wife, and who has the right to separate them from one another? What are the conditions for such separation to take place?
A67. If a husband is absent from his wife after having marital intercourse with her, and he is away due to an accepted excuse like seeking knowledge, trade, work or other similar reasons and he provides her with what she needs of expenses, then she has no right to seek separation whether the period of his absence is long or short, or whether she suffers of some harm or not. This is because he is not unjust to her by his absence. While if he is away for a long period of time -say more than one year, and some said over three years- and he intentionally meant to harm her without an accepted excuse, then she can present her case to the Islamic judge asking him to separate her from her husband. She can prove his absence without any excuse and that she suffers from real harm due to which she suffers to slip into adultery. Once this is done, the judge would write to the husband asking his either to return to his wife, or to help her join him or to divorce her. The judge would give him a certa
