Not sending a wife to her parental home when fitna is feared

Question

One night my wife said to me: “I will tell you something — you won’t tell anyone, will you?” When she was certain that I would not tell anyone, my wife said: “My brother committed fornication with me.” She says this on oath. The question is: should I now send her to her father’s house or not? I am afraid of her brother.

Answer

The husband has the right to keep his wife permanently, for good, in his own house, and not to allow her to go and stay at her parents’ house; but he should not forbid her from meeting her parents: when they wish to come and meet (her), he should allow them.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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