Is it permissible for the husband to live abroad away from his wife?

Question:

I am currently studying and working full time, while my husband is also working but we have no children yet. Unfortunately, we have an immigration situation where my husband will be subject to return to his home country for at least 10 years.

In Islamic law, is it permissible for me to live alone where I live currently for 10 years or are we required to live together? I am not able to move abroad due to work commitments etc. but I also do not want to live apart from my husband.

Answer:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

As married couples, it is the demand of marriage that the couples live together and enjoy quality time with one another. The happy and sad moments of life are shared with one another. In the time of need, the wife is there to support her husband and encourage him for what is right. When the wife is in need, the husband is present to comfort her and provide her with peace. When one of the spouses is experiencing happy moments of life, the other one joins to celebrate the happiness. When the spouse is experiencing sadness or depressing moments of life, the other spouse gives in his/her full support to comfort the other and remove the afflicted difficulty. When the husband returns home in the evening from a hard day’s work, merely seeing the smile on his wife’s face is more than enough to become the coolness of his eyes and relieves his tiredness. The wife too, is eagerly waiting for the arrival of her husband. This creates a bond of love between the spouses. This, is the true spirit of marriage.

However, all of this is defeated when the spouses do not live together. The question is not whether it is permissible or not for your husband to live away from you in another country. If your husband goes abroad and lives in another country while you stay back in the U.S., you will eventually start to lose communication with your husband. When there is no communication between the spouses, the love in marriage eventually starts to fade away. Both of your lives will be physically disconnected from one another for the next ten years. The worst part of all is that Shaitan will get the better of both of you. While both of you are away from one another and cannot enjoy the true spirit of marriage, naturally you will try to look for it elsewhere. This may lead a person to commit a shameful act. May Allah protect us all. Ameen.

Nevertheless, there is no restriction in Shariah with regards to your husband living abroad.

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.