Fact is that she said "her husband didn't force her on a gunpoint and she was happy outside but inside her heart a war was going on"....What does this mean?
That's just it. We don't know what it means. By her own account, there was no physical violence, but it appears there was emotional and verbal abuse Does this justify what she did? I have no idea. But I know he's not justified either in the way he treated her...physical abuse or no.
Ultimately, only Allah knows because only He saw what really took place and only He knows what's in people's hearts.
For me, this story is a reminder that people in our Indian/Pakistani communities need a serious re-haul in how they think about marriage. It's not ok to encourage your wife to do haraam things - whether or not you use physical force - and it's not ok to threaten to sue her or harm her family. It boggles my mind that anybody needs to be even told that, but that's the state of things in many of our households. And it's not ok to break out the knives either...I totally sympathize that she may have felt threatened and just snapped one day because she couldn't take it anymore, but she's potentially messed up her life with this, now that she's facing the possibility of jail time. People need some serious education about marriage in Islam and women especially need to learn about their options when things go south...especially here in the States. There are SO many options...there are shelters, there are the police, there are social services...our women shouldn't be ashamed of going to these places for help. There's no shame in asking for help when you're in over your head, but we've made it a massive stigma in our community. That needs to change if for nothing else that something like this doesn't happen again.