What is the ruling on stipulations regarding the wife's residence in a marriage contract?
General Chapter
Al-Mughni
Book of Marriage
Primary text
If a wife stipulates that she shall not be taken out of her residence or city, the stipulation is valid and must be fulfilled. This ruling is supported by the hadith that states the most deserving stipulations to be fulfilled are those by which the private parts were made lawful. Scholars such as Umar ibn al-Khattab, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, Muawiyah, Amr ibn al-As, Shurayh, Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, Jabir ibn Zayd, Tawus, al-Awza'i, and Ishaq uphold this position. If the husband fails to adhere to this condition, the wife has the right to seek dissolution of the marriage.
Supporting text
A number of scholars, including al-Zuhri, Qatadah, Hisham ibn Urwah, Malik, al-Layth, al-Thawri, al-Shafi'i, Ibn al-Mundhir, and the companions of opinion (Ahl al-Ra'y), invalidated such stipulations. Abu Hanifah and al-Shafi'i maintained that such invalid conditions void the dowry, but not the marriage contract itself, in which case the wife is entitled to the *Mahr al-Mithl* (the customary dower). They based this on the hadith, "Every condition not in the Book of Allah is void, even if it be a hundred conditions," arguing that these stipulations are not established in the Quran.