Obligations of husband towards his two wives

23-2-2012 | IslamWeb

Question:

Is a second marriage invalid if: 1.the husband was not providing for the first wife when he took a second wife 2.if he could not afford a second wife 3.if the second marriage destroyed the structure and stability of the first family and first marriage. 4.if after the second marriage he is not being fair; shutting the first wife off for weeks and living all the time with the second wife If the second marriage is invalid is he commiting sin and who can I get to help me to explain this to him and reason with him. I have been to 15 different mosques and nobody til now has helped me. Thank you for your response
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

There are some conditions for marriage and if they are met, the marriage is valid. For more benefit on the conditions and pillars of marriage, please refer to Fatwa 83629.

With regard to the matters that you mentioned in the question, they do not have any effect on the validity of marriage. However, a husband is obliged to be just between his two wives in regard to spending the night with them. If he is unfair in this regard and he is inclined to one of them, then he is unjust and sinful.

He is also obliged to spend on his two wives according to the circumstances of each one of them and according to his ability; if he is negligent in this regard, he is sinful. It is confirmed that the Prophet sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) said: ''It is enough of a sin for a person not to provide means of sustenance to those whom he is obliged to support.” [Ahmad and Abu Daawood]

On the other hand, a wife should be keen on advising her husband regarding these matters in a soft and gentle manner in order to avoid dissension. Nonetheless, if she is harmed, she has the right to ask for divorce but it might be that being patient and continuing to advise the husband is more appropriate.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the wife has the right on her husband to have sexual intercourse with her, but he is obliged to do so according to her need and according to his ability as explained by Ibn Taymiyyah may Allaah have mercy upon him.

For more benefit on the sexual rights of a wife and keeping her chaste, please refer to Fataawa 86403 and 88110.

Allaah Knows best.

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