I have been living with my husband’s mother and sister for two years. The problem is that his mother is married and her husband lives with us, which exposes me to a lot of haraam situations such as being alone with him, or his entering upon me suddenly when I am not wearing hijab. This communal living situation also prevents us from fully enjoying intimacy with one another and it deprives me and my husband of many of our rights. I knew from the beginning that I would be living with my husband’s family, but I did not realise that the matter would be so difficult and that it would cause me psychological problems and a sense of deprivation. Now I have begun to want separate accommodation, as does my husband, but his mother objects on the grounds that she is sick and needs him. Please note that she is still working despite her sickness and she is living her life normally most of the time. Her younger daughter also lives with her and her older daughter lives nearby in a house that she gave to her, and she visits her all the time. She also has three other houses that are rented out, but she refuses to give us one of them and refuses to let us live anywhere except with her. She regards our desire for a separate home to be a betrayal on my part and disobedience on my husband’s part. What is the solution?.<\/p>","answer":"
Accommodation is one of the rights of the wife that is obligatory upon the husband according to scholarly consensus, because Allah, may He be exalted, has decreed that the husband is obliged to provide accommodation for the woman who is revocably divorced, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):<\/p>\r\n
“Lodge them (the divorced women) where you dwell, according to your means”<\/em><\/p>\r\n [at-Talaaq 65:6]<\/em>. <\/p>\r\n So it is more appropriate that he be required to provide accommodation to the one who is still married. Moreover, Allah has enjoined kind and honourable treatment between spouses as He says (interpretation of the meaning):<\/p>\r\n “And live with them honourably”<\/em><\/p>\r\n [an-Nisa’ 4:19]<\/em>.<\/p>\r\n Part of living with them honourably, as enjoined, is providing the wife with accommodation in which she and her wealth are secure. The wife cannot do without accommodation so as to shield her from prying eyes, and so that she can have her privacy and keep her wealth. Hence accommodation is one of the rights that she has over her husband. <\/p>\r\n The majority of Hanafi, Shaafa‘i and Hanbali fuqaha’ are of the view that the wife has the right to accommodation separate from her husband’s relatives, and that she has the right to refuse to live with his father and mother or one of them. <\/p>\r\n