Should a woman leave her husband if he marries again?
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:
As-salaamu alaikum ! Please maintain my anonimity. A sister of mine ( with kids ) is leaving seperately from her husband due to his second marriage which he made under a different name and kept it a secret for a long time. Only when it came to light problems started and she started staying with her parents.What is to be done Islamically in this regard? Can she stay seperated and live the way she is currently ( working , independent and with parents ) Hope to receive your reply according to the Islamic Principals Jazak Allah Khair
(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:
Should a woman leave her husband
if he marries again?
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 no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no
prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah Subhanah has allowed the
believing man to take upto four wives at any one time, if he chooses to do
so. But Islam has also guided the man to
declare his marriages publicly by arranging a marriage feast or ‘walima’, so
that the whole society knows of his marriage ties. It is not permissible for a believer, who
sincerely fears Allah and the Last Day, to have secret illicit
relationships, where one secretly
marries a woman, and hides this
relationship from his near and dear ones!
If the first wife does not
approve of her husband’s second marriage, she is well within her rights to seek
a divorce; and there will be no sin on
her in such a case.
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 65 Surah Talaaq verse 1: O Prophet! When ye do divorce women, divorce them at their prescribed periods and
count (accurately) their prescribed periods:
and fear Allah your Lord: and
turn them not out of their houses, nor
shall they (themselves) leave except in case they are guilty of some open
lewdness. Those are limits set
by Allah: and any who transgresses the
limits of Allah does verily wrong his (own) soul: thou knowest not if perchance Allah will
bring about thereafter some new situation.
But if she does not seek divorce
and wishes to remain his wife, she must fear Allah Subhanah, and give all the rights that are due to her
husband, and the husband must give all
the rights that are due to her. It
would not be righteousness in the sight of Allah that a husband and wife remain
separated forever. Either they choose
to live together in peace and harmony as husband and wife, or they divorce each
other in peace and with magnanimity.
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan