Answer
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner, we would like to thank you for the great confidence you place in us, and we implore Allah Almighty to help us serve His cause and render our work for His Sake.
Answering your question, Dr. Muhammad Salama, PhD, Islamic Studies in English, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Islamic Sciences al-Madinah International University (Meduiu), states:
From the Shari`ah perspective, for divorce to take place it has to be expressed in either oral or written form. The intention of divorce does not render it an actual divorce. Separation also does not mean divorce and could only be a chance for reflection and reassessment of the marital relationship but it may not be forever. A husband may not leave also his wife, as it were, hanging. A wife has rights that the husband has to fulfill just as a wife has to fulfill her duties toward her husband.
The Quranic guidance dictates:
“Furthermore, if any woman fears disfavor or alienation from her husband, then there shall be no blame on the two of them if they reconcile a peaceful settlement between themselves. For reconciliation is [far] better [than kindling strife], though [beware that] avarice is ever-present in the [human] soul. But if you excel in doing good and are God-fearing- then ever is God all-aware of all that you do.” (An-Nisaa’ 4:128)
In another Quranic guidance regarding marital dispute we read:
“Moreover, [as to spouses in dispute], if you [believers] fear a split between the two of them, then send for an arbitrator from his people and another arbitrator from her people. If they both desire reconciliation, God will bring about harmony between the two of them. Indeed, God is ever-knowing, all-aware.” (An-Nisaa’ 4:35)
If arbitration and reconciliation do not work out, then a wife may raise the issue before courts asking for her rights or seeking divorce.
Allah Almighty knows best.