Divorce is Disliked Unless it is Necessary

Question :

I am a young Muslim man and I am married, with two children. I married in the year 1981 C. E. and I loved. and honored my wife very much, but she hates me and slanders my father and mother. I have tried to explain to her all of her faults, but she says I am ignorant and uneducated and she even refuses to pray. I wish to divorce this woman but I want to follow the right way, especially regarding her rights and those of the two children. Therefore, I request (the benefit of) your advice and may Allah benefit you.

Answer:

Divorce is disliked, unless there is a need for it. But if the matter is as you have stated, especially regarding her refusal to pray, then it is not permissible for you to keep this woman. So divorce her according to the Sunnah, which is to pronounce divorce on her once while she is purified from menses, while you have not had sexual intercourse with her. Then let her stay in the house until she has completed her waiting period and give her support, such as clothing and sustenance, and leave the two children with her until she marries.

Then you have the right to take them from her, and you must support them as long as they are with her, giving them an amount which is considered customary according to the difficulty or ease (which you face):
"Allah will grant after hardship, ease". And Allah knows best.

Source:
Ibn Jibreen
Fatawa Islamiyah, Vol. 6 Pages 32-33