Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

A man have two wifes. One lives in her own apartment. She works and pay all her bills by herself. The husband have told her that he don´t want to feel that he have to come to her, he wants to come if he likes to.He have forced this wife to make an abortion. The other wife lives with the man, she don´t work and the husband will probably have children with her. Is this permissible? 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Wife give up equal rights

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 3:

3 If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans marry women of your choice two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one or (a captive) that your right hands possess. That will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice.

Islam has given the permission and option to the believing men who wish and choose to marry more than one wife to marry and keep upto an absolute maximum of four wives at any one time; but they are strictly commanded to do justice amongst their wives, especially regarding the equal allocation of their time and their resources between them. If one amongst the believers exercises his option to marry more than one wife but does not deal with justice amongst his wives, he shall have an extremely severe accounting for his transgression in the Presence of his Lord on that Inevitable and Tumultuous Day of Judgment.

Sunan of Abu-Dawood Hadith 2128 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah

The Prophet (saws) said: ‘When a man has two wives and he is inclined to one of them, he will come on the Day of resurrection with a side hanging down.’

But if at the time of the ‘nikaah’ the husband-to-be informs his bride-to-be that he will not bear the financial burden for her upkeep, and/or that he will not spend equal time with her, etc….and his bride-to-be relinquishes her lawful rights and accepts these conditions before the ‘nikaah’ contract is finalized….there is absolutely no harm and no blame on either party.

But if no such agreement between the couple was in place before the ‘nikaah’, and after marriage the husband does not fulfill his legal and moral obligations of spending equal time and resources amongst his wives, he indeed will be held guilty of injustice between his wives in the Presence of his Lord Most High, Most Just on that Tumultuous Day of Judgment.

If the wife feels that her rights are being unjustly compromised by her husband in the marriage, she is well within her rights to initiate a divorce proceedings against her husband and seek her freedom….and there would be absolutely no sin or blame upon her.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan