Appearing, like 4:34, adjacent to other verses discussing marital discord, the Qur’anic passage on men’s nushuz states:
If a woman fears nushuz or rejection (i‘rad) from her husband, there is no blame on them if they come to a settlement, and settlement is better, even though people’s souls are stingy. (Q. 4:128)
There is generally more agreement about men’s nushuz than about women’s nushuz. Most interpreters hold that the husband’s nushuz is his dislike of, or aversion toward, his wife (often, karahiyya). Traditional accounts of this verse’s revelation report that it is about a husband who comes to dislike his wife because of her advancing age, or perhaps some other factor which makes her less attractive to him. Some state that this man was Rafi‘ b. Khadij, who had married a young bride and favored her over his wife of many years. Other accounts suggest that it was revealed about the Prophet and his wife Sawda. In either case, the exegetes and jurists agree that the “settlement” the Qur’an refers to consists in the wife giving up certain marital rights as a means of inducing her husband not to divorce her, as both Rafi‘’s wife and Sawda eventually did.
While most defined the husband’s nushuz as dislike of a wife, a minority held that the husband’s nushuz is his maltreatment of his wife. Specifically, frequent or excessive violence, including striking her in the face, constitutes nushuz, in this view. This is a more common view today.
Revised 14 January 2003
Kecia Ali