Annulment of marriage before consummation or being alone together because of a defect in the woman; is the woman entitled to anything as a result of this annulment?

Praise
be to Allah.

In
the answer to question no. 158489 we stated that
epilepsy is one of the defects for which the marriage may be annulled. So
it is permissible for either the husband or the wife to annul the
marriage, if it becomes clear to him or her that the other partner has the
defect of epilepsy. If the husband finds out after doing the marriage
contract that the woman has epilepsy, and he annuls the marriage because
of that defect, and that happens before consummation of the marriage, then
the woman is not entitled to any part of the mahr. 

Ibn
Qudaamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: If annulment occurs before
consummation of the marriage, then she is not entitled to any mahr from him,
whether annulment was initiated by the husband or the wife. This is the view
of ash-Shaafa‘i. The reason for that is that if the annulment comes from
her, then the separation comes about on her initiative, so the mahr is
waived. If it comes from him, then he has only annulled the marriage because
of a defect in her that she deceived him about by concealing it, so it is as
if the annulment came from her.

End
quote from al-Mughni, 7/144 

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said: The words “if
annulment occurs before consummation of the marriage, then she is not
entitled to any mahr” mean: if annulment occurs before consummation of the
marriage, then there is no mahr for the wife, whether the defect was in him
or in her. 

But
if the defect was in her, then it is clear that she is not entitled to any
mahr. For example: a man did the marriage contract with a woman, then before
consummating the marriage with her, it became apparent that there was a
defect in her, so he annulled the marriage. In this case she is not entitled
to any mahr, because she deceived him; she is the one who deceived the
husband. 

If
the defect is in the husband, and she annulled the marriage because of the
husband’s defect, then the author says: she is not entitled to any mahr,
because the separation came about on her initiative, as she is the one who
asked for annulment. 

The
correct view concerning this matter is that if the defect is in the husband
and he annulled the marriage before consummation, then she is entitled to
half of the mahr, because the husband is the cause of annulment. So how can
we deal with this deceitful man in a manner that serves his interests? 

They
say that the separation came about on her initiative, because she is the one
who asked for annulment. However, we say: she did not ask for annulment
because she changed her mind or because that served her interests; rather it
was because of his defect. So in fact, he is the one who deceived her, and
she is saying: I wanted to marry this husband, but so long as he has this
defect, I cannot stay with him. Now, in reality, the separation is because
of him. According to the scholars, in any case where the separation is due
to the husband, then the woman is entitled to half of the mahr.

End
quote from ash-Sharh al-Mumti‘, 12/227-228 

To
sum up: if a man finds a defect in his wife that causes him to miss out on
any of the purposes of marriage, such as epilepsy – for example – then he
has the right to request annulment of the marriage. If annulment occurs
before consummation, then the woman is not entitled to anything, because the
annulment only came about because of her. 

And
Allah knows best.