Analytical Study for nushūz of Husband and Wife according to Qur’anic Commentators and Jurists and its Impact on the Legal Rulings

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how the jurists and the Qur'anic commentators interpret the concept of nushūz (disobedience) of the husband and wife in the Qur'an and to attempt to extrapolate the views of interpreters and scholars in interpreting, analyzing, and criticizing the Qur'anic verses using the deductive and inductive methodologies. The study has concluded that the meaning of nushūz is that the husband or the wife fears that their spouse might start a forbidden relationship (infidelity) with another person; thus, the other spouse should make serious attempts trying to find a solution to this possible marital infidelity according to the steps that were clarified in the Qur'an. In addition, this study concluded that the meaning of nushūz is not what the Qur'anic commentators interpreted as arrogance or unwillingness, specifically the wife's disobedience, which was interpreted as the wife's disobedience to her husband and her superiority over him. In light of this new interpretation, the previous jurisprudential rulings that were based on the previous understanding of nushūz should be reconsidered.