Is it possible for one of the spouses to dissolve the marriage on finding a certain defect in the other? The schools have differed regarding the defects which justify the dissolution of the marriage and also regarding the rules that apply in these circumstances.
Al-‘Anan (Impotence)
Al-‘anan is a disease which renders a man incapable of sexual intercourse. All the five schools give the wife the right to dissolve the marriage in such a situation. But in a situation where the husband’s inability is limited to his wife and he is capable of intercourse with any other, the schools have different views regarding the wife’s right of dissolving the marriage.
The Imamiyyah have said: The wife’s right to dissolve the marriage is not ascertained unless the husband is incapable of having intercourse with any woman whatsoever. Therefore, on his inability being limited to his wife and not others, the right of dissolving the marriage does not accrue,1 because the source of this right is a rule which gives the power of dissolving marriage to the wife of an impotent man;
one who is capable of having intercourse with other women is not considered impotent in the true sense of the word. This is so because impotence is a bodily defect which renders a man incapable of intercourse with any woman, exactly like a blind man who cannot see anything.
