Is It mandatory To Marry More Than One Wife If One Can Be Just?


Question:

Assalamu ‘alaykum.

In Sura al Nisa verse four, Allah says that males can marry women of their choice, two, three, or four, but only one if they fear being unjust. Is it mandatory to marry two women if one does not fear being unjust?

Answer:

Wa ‘alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.

I pray you are well.

No, marrying more than one lady is not an obligation if one is fair. The verse permits this, but it does not make it an obligation. A Muslim man may marry just one wife, and that is perfectly fine.

The bigger issue we see today is people who wrong their first within various ways, and then they marry another. The second marriage, in this case, is haram. It’s better to fix the first marriage or end it. Continuing in zulm is far from the more beneficial scenario.

Please see:

https://seekersguidance.org/answers/i-no-longer-love-my-husband-after-he-married-a-second-wife/

https://seekersguidance.org/answers/marriage/can-a-man-marry-a-second-wife-if-he-cannot-fulfil-her-rights/

May Allah grant you the best of both worlds.
[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began his studies in Arabic Grammar and Morphology in 2005. After graduating with a degree in English and History, he moved to Damascus in 2007, where, for 18 months, he studied with many erudite scholars. In late 2008 he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continued his studies for the next six years in Sacred Law (fiqh), legal theory (Usul al-fiqh), theology, hadith methodology, hadith commentary, and Logic. He was also given licenses of mastery in the science of Quranic recital. He was able to study an extensive curriculum of Quranic sciences, tafsir, Arabic grammar, and Arabic eloquence.