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Should Husbands Inform Their Wives Before Entering into a Second Marriage?

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Muftionline.co.za

Q: Nowadays, majority of husbands have a single wife with the exception of some. In this situation, how can a woman be asked to tolerate her husband’s second marriage. Isn’t it a responsibility of the husband to inform her prior to the marriage of him entering into another marriage so that she can choose to marry him or not?

Bismillaah

A: Though it is not a precondition for the validity of the nikaah with the second wife that the husband informs his first wife of the nikaah, however we totally discourage secret nikaahs as this leads to creating suspicion in the minds of people regarding the man and woman whose nikaah has not been publicized as well as a lot of confusion and complications in many masaail i.e. the husband not being able to maintain equality between the wives in regard to their night turns, wealth and other aspects, laws of inheritance in the case of death, etc.

And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by:

Mufti Zakaria Makada

Checked & Approved:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

This answer was collected from MuftiOnline.co.za, where the questions have been answered by Mufti Zakaria Makada (Hafizahullah), who is currently a senior lecturer in the science of Hadith and Fiqh at Madrasah Ta’leemuddeen, Isipingo Beach, South Africa.