A man who has the financial and physical ability to marry: is it better for him to limit himself to one wife or to have multiple wives?

The questioner : A man says he has the financial and physical ability to marry a second wife. Is it better for him to limit himself to one wife or to have multiple wives? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : Yes, having multiple wives is better than having one, because of the increase in the offspring of this Ummah and the protection of the chastity of women who remain without husbands. However, this is conditional on the man having financial capacity, physical capacity, and practical capacity, which is by being just among them, being just among the women. As for marrying while fearing that he will not be just, that is forbidden for him, because Allah the Exalted says: , Allah commanded us to limit ourselves to one, meaning from slave women, for justice is not obligatory among slave women. He may have intercourse with whichever of his slave women he wishes if he has slave women, and justice is not obligatory upon him. As for wives, justice among them is obligatory. So whoever has two wives and leans toward one of them, he will come on the Day of Resurrection with his side leaning, except that Allah Glorified and Exalted is He granted a dispensation for the husband to stay with the new wife for seven days if she is a virgin, and three days if she is a previously married woman. Then, when the three days are completed, he gives her the choice, saying: If you wish, I will complete the seven days for you, but I will give my other wives seven days each. And if you wish, meaning limit it to the three days, then he returns to his first wives, and then returns to the new wife. For example, he married a previously married woman, and when three days had passed, he gave her the choice. She said, I want you to complete the seven days for me, so he completed the seven days for her. He has another wife; how long does he stay with the other wife? He stays seven days with the other wife, then returns to the new wife. But if she said, three days are sufficient for me, then he goes to the first wife for how many days? One day, one day, then he returns to the new wife, because the three days are a right of the new wife, a right for her, so that the husband, in most cases, does not find his soul at ease on the first night with this new wife, and so that the wife feels secure with this husband and becomes accustomed to him, because one night may not bring her security and comfort. Therefore, among the wisdom of the Shari'ah is that it made seven days for the virgin and three days for the previously married woman. But the previously married woman is given the choice, as you heard. If she chooses to complete the seven days, he may complete the seven days for her, but he must allocate seven days to the first wife. What does the woman usually choose? Completing the seven days or the three days?

The questioner : The seven days.

The Shaykh : No, I do not think so. If she chooses to complete the seven days, he stays with the other one for seven days. But if she limits it to the three days, it is one day and he returns to her. And if we assume we have three wives before this woman, and she chose the seven days, how long does he stay? Twenty-one days, twenty-one days, then he returns to her. The majority of women do not choose anything but the three days, which are her right. Yes.