Journal of Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Issues Volume 22, Special Issue 1, 2019 Islamic Law, Politics and Ethics 1 1544-0044-22-S1-270 THE ISLAMIC LEGAL REMEDY ON HUSBAND’S IMPRISONMENT Tengku Fatimah Muliana Tengku Muda, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Azizah Mohd, International Islamic University Malaysia Noraini Md.Hashim, International Islamic University Malaysia Syh Noorul Madihah Syed Husin, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin Zurita Mohd Yusoff, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin ABSTRACT The need of a prisoner’s wife is often not an issue of concern for many. Despite financial struggle, the imprisonment of the husband may affect the wife’s emotional being and inner needs. Since the repulsion of harm (mafsadah) serves as the objective of Islamic legal rulings, this paper seeks to examine the juristic views of different schools of laws in Islam on the remedy available where the husband has been sentenced for imprisonment. For comparative purpose, the provisions of law related to husband’s imprisonment as applied in Malaysia, Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are also discussed. Using content analysis method, the findings indicate that where the husband has been imprisoned, dissolution of marriage is allowed based on the ground of protecting the interest of the spouse, as well as an appraisal to the Islamic principle of repulsion of harm. Keywords: Prisoner’s Wife, Imprisonment, Harm, Islamic Law, Malaysian Law. INTRODUCTION Islam views emotional expression between a husband and wife as a form of worship and companionship, institutionalizing them not solely for procreation but as a way for a couple to connect, strengthen their relationship, and help relieve everyday stresses (Hammudah, 1977). In fact, marriage in Islam is often referred to in a poetic manner describing the love and mutual rights that exist between the husband and the wife. Allah says to the effect: “O mankind, fear you’re Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an observer.”(Al-Qur’an, 4:1). Al-Zuhayli (1997) when discussing the reciprocal rights and obligations of both spouses against each other invokes the verse of the Qur’an that reads: “And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses, etc.) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect, etc.) to what is reasonable, but men have a degree (of responsibility) over them.” (Al-Qur’an, 2:228). The deprivation of an individual’s liberty through imprisonment may be harmful to the wife; preventing him from performing marital obligations and duties arising from the marriage contract.The principle of harm has also formed one of the essential legal maxim of fiqh which reads “al-ḍarar yuzal” (harm must be eliminated). Al-Nadawi (1994) explains that the word