Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi 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.
In this fatwa:
1- Take your time approaching him softly and gently and seeking help from trustworthy friends or family members.
2- If he hopefully accepts advice, that would be great. If he is stubborn and shows no change, then you can finally resort to divorce.
Responding to your question, the prominent Muslim scholar and da`iyah based in London Zeinab Mostafa, states:
You should not be in a rush to take a decision before trying all options. Give yourself a period of one or two years to try to help him change. Start with alcohol for it is the root cause.
Try to see friends or community members that he listens to, and try to seek their help in rectifying his behaviour as usually husbands do not like the direct advice coming from their wives.
Afterwards, you should focus on the Prayer. If you see that he is responsive to these attempts positively, then you should thank Allah greatly.
If, however, you think he is not accepting this change, then the last of all remedies can sometimes be divorce.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.