Monday, 27 February 2017

Wives Preventing Polygyny (having more than one wife at one time) – Shaykh al-Albaani

September 4, 2010

Source: silsilat ul-hudaa wa nnoor – the series of guidance and light – tape no. 787

Polygyny : The condition or practice of having more than one wife at one time.

source: silsilat ul-hudaa wa nnoor, tape no. 787/3
asaheeha translations

Question: “Is it allowed for a woman to come between her husband and polygyny?”

Shaikh al-Albaani (rahimahullaah):

“Of course, I believe that this is not allowed for her because of two reasons: 1) she is hindering (her husband) from the (lawful) path of Allaah, and 2) she is opposing the command of her husband. Because you know that the obedience of a woman to her husband is obligatory as is the case with the obedience of a member of a nation to the Muslim ruler – I don’t say blind obedience, but rather complete obedience – except that which the Legislation has made an exception, i.e. except if it is in disobedience to Allaah. And based on this there are Legislated rulings: that if the Muslim ruler commands something that is fundamentally allowed, this command becomes obligatory upon the one who is commanded with it to carry out, because it is the command of the Walee ul-Amr (Muslim ruler). Exactly likewise is the affair with respect to the wife with her husband.

So if a husband commands his wife to do something which is fundamentally allowed in the Legislation and which the woman is able to carry out, then it is obligatory upon her to obey him. And if she does not obey him, she has disobeyed Allaah and His Messenger (sallAllaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). Therefore when a woman sets up obstacles that may come between her husband and the thing he wants to attain which Allaah (‘azza wa jal) has allowed, let alone if the allowed matter is something desired and legislated, then no doubt she will be disobedient two times: 1) as I mentioned previously, she is hindering (her husband) from the (lawful) path, and 2) she is opposing her husband in something that is not for her to oppose because she is able (to carry it out) and he is not wanting to do an act of disobedience to Allaah.”

PS : Webster’s New World Dictionary defines Polygamy as “the practice of having two or more wives or husbands at the same time.” Since Muslim women are not allowed to have two or more husbands at the same time, let’s find a better word: Polygyny. The same dictionary defines polygyny as “a practice of having two or more wives at the same time.” Polyandry (Greek: poly- many, andros- man) refers to a form of marriage in which a woman has two or more husbands at the same time