Wife’s Rights and Sister

Q: I would like to find out about a wife’s right to her husband over his sister’s rights. The husband’s sister is divorce with kids. She wants to go on holiday and takes her brother without asking his wife. Their excuse is that it is a far distance so the brother has to take her safely. The wife is expecting and the husband leaves the wife and leaves with his sister. Before they leave the wife phones the sister to find out about the situation and the sister gets angry with the wife. Nevertheless the wife asks when will the husband be returning home and the sister says 3 days after they reach the destination. How it this situation dealt with and who is at fault?

A: It is wrong for the husband to leave the wife unattended, especially when she is pregnant, just to take the sister on a holiday. The wife’s rights come before the sister. It is also wrong for the sister to ask the husband to leave his wife just for her outing. Shar’ee priorities must be observed. Rights of people have to be respected. So in this case both the husband and his sister are in the wrong. Our advice to you, dear sister, is to make sabr under the circumstances, don’t hold anything in the heart against your sister-in-law, don’t resort to any arguments, but explain your husband his error.

Allah knows best

Mufti Siraj Desai