On the benefits of having multiple wives.

The Shaykh : ... with the observation of another benefit that accrues to the husband. That was related to what ... increasing the number of the Ummah; this increase that pleases the Master of the Ummah; indeed, the Master of the Prophets and Messengers. But there is another benefit related to the man and the husband who marries more than one woman. As a result of that, his children will be numerous, and from the outcome of this multitude of children, there are many, and very many, rewards. For example, the woman may be barren, or at least—as I mentioned earlier—she may not be fertile, so she brings one child, or two, or more than that. Then Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) takes back His trust, and they are before the age of accountability, and a great reward is written for this father. As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So drawing near to Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) by being patient with the death of his children before the age of accountability is a favor that returns to the one who married. The more numerous these children are, and the more often Allah (Mighty and Majestic) takes back some of these trusts on earth, the more and more the reward of this husband or this father becomes. From that also—

The questioner : What does this mean: O Shaykh?

The Shaykh : Keep your question.

The questioner : From that also is his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , and in a narration: . So the more numerous the children are, the more and more the favor of this father becomes.
So the original ruling regarding the multiplication of marriage is multiplication, not singularity, as many Islamic writers, especially in Egypt, keep repeating this claim. And that is only because of their influence by the disbelieving calls that encourage the entire Ummah, and at its head the Ummah of Islam, to reduce the offspring, claiming that this is more conducive to preserving the health of the wife in particular, and to helping the parents raise the children in another way.
This is undoubtedly a foreign, disbelieving claim. I do not want to say that they only want to try to reduce the number of the Ummah, contrary to the desire of its Prophet and Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). Rather, it is what is consistent with the belief of these disbelievers who do not seek such a reward as I mentioned earlier regarding the death of children. One of them does not even think that if he is blessed with a child and he cares for his upbringing with righteous upbringing, and then Allah asks for His trust, that he has a reward with Allah. He does not think about this; he only thinks about immediate benefit and worldly comfort. So one of them is satisfied—and they all differ in this satisfaction—some are satisfied to be blessed with two children, and there is a total of four: the two spouses and the two children. But they do not settle for just two children; they add a fifth to them, as He (the Exalted) said: , or their dog is their sixth, and so on. Why? Because they are better at raising dogs than they are at raising children. Whereas the Muslim seeks reward from Allah (Mighty and Majestic) for teaching his children the testimony that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. So if one of them dies before the age of puberty—as we mentioned earlier—he reckons that with Allah (Mighty and Majestic). For Allah (Mighty and Majestic), by His grace, may have freed him from the Fire because of this reckoning for the death of three of the children. It came in the hadith when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . They said: O Messenger of Allah, and two? He said: . The narrator said: We thought that if the one who said it had said: and one? He would have said: .
So this virtue is not established except in the minds of the Muslims. So the result or fruit of this belief is that the Muslim always prefers to have a great and great deal of children. As for the disbelievers, they want to live these few years in this world, and then they do not care about the Hereafter.