The Wife's Agency in the Suspension or Dissolution of Marital Duties: A Jurisprudential-Explanatory Reading of the Asiyah Prayer (Tahrim/11) in the Light of Sharia Documentation

The Qur’anic portrayal of Asiya, the wife of Pharaoh, is generally regarded as a symbol of patience and steadfastness in the face of oppression. Adopting a novel reading of the relevant Qur’anic verse and employing qualitative content analysis and inferential reasoning, the present study moves beyond this purely ethical interpretation to examine the jurisprudential and legal potential of this model for establishing women’s agency in defending their fundamental rights. The central research question is whether a woman’s independence in matters of faith entails an obligation to endure all forms of harm or, rather, provides a basis for claiming her substantive rights. The findings indicate that Asiya’s supplication can be interpreted as a jurisprudential and legal claim that embodies the full independence of a woman’s legal personality and her active agency in choosing her spouse and resisting oppression. Asiya’s prayer for deliverance from Pharaoh himself and from his conduct—which, according to a well-established interpretation, refers to sexual relations with him—as well as from the oppressive people, respectively reveals the jurisprudential potential for the dissolution of marriage, the suspension of specific marital obligations (such as tamkin, or the wife’s obligation to submit to marital relations), and the right to leave an oppressive environment. Furthermore, applying the concepts of judicially decreed divorce (talaq-e hakimiyati), haraj (undue hardship), and nafy al-sabil (the prohibition of granting unbelievers dominion over believers) to Asiya’s circumstances establishes the legitimacy of these claims in light of the relevant jurisprudential evidence.