Do you advise plural marriage in this age?

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah, please go ahead.

The questioner : Do you have a word or advice regarding the topic of plural marriage, especially on this occasion and in this time?
Al-Halabi : To complete the question, our Shaykh, no harm in staying on the same topic of plural marriage so that the answer is comprehensive.

The Shaykh : Yes.
Al-Halabi : And what many people who write in defense of Islam against opponents and in refutation of doubts mention is that Islam did not legislate plural marriage except for certain reasons. Is it true that plural marriage is not legislated, or that it was legislated, for the sake of these reasons, or does the Muslim have a choice in this matter?

The Shaykh : There is no doubt that the Muslim has a choice in this matter, but we say, in answer to that question, always and forever, that we do not advise a husband who is married and has his wife, and she suffices him, to add another to her. We do not advise this, not as a contradiction, God forbid, of the saying of the Exalted: but rather because of our observation of the conditions of Muslims today and their social upbringing, which does not please a friend, and perhaps not even an enemy. When a Muslim marries a second woman, first, he will find opposition from those around him, his close ones, let alone the distant ones. And of course, the Muslim does not care about this, because he may be mocked for holding fast to his religion, and it may be said of him, "By Allah, this man is extreme," I seek refuge in Allah, while he is actually holding fast and not extreme. But he is described as extreme because of the others' neglect of their religion. This is one of the problems. Another problem is that the woman he may bring in and add to the first one may have morals that are, at best, described as not responding to the first wife, and she may not be able to live a good life with her co-wife. Then problems begin, and many problems, due to all of this, returning to bad upbringing on one hand, and corruption in scientific guidance on the other. Because we all know, as we believe, that many radio stations, especially before some Islamic radio stations appeared, in which some scholars holding fast to the Shari'ah speak, many of the radio stations used to denounce dual marriage and above. And as you heard from our brother, Professor Ali, just now, they direct the explicit legal texts permitting marriage to a second, third, and fourth wife, within the limits of what necessity? They interpret the negated justice, as what kind of justice? Material justice, which is not intended, but what is intended is the justice of the heart, of which we mentioned something just now. These radio stations, without doubt, created a non-Islamic atmosphere, so the Muslim public no longer has the psychological readiness to accept plural marriage, despite the explicit Qur'an permitting it. So when a person stands up and marries, many discussions and numerous objections arise against him, and so on. Therefore, I say, based on this and that, and perhaps other things, I do not advise anyone to marry a second wife if he is sufficed by the first. I place this condition, because the truth is that people fall between excess and deficiency in their stance regarding plural marriage. Some exaggerate in denial, and some are lenient, standing at the Qur'anic verse without looking at the social situation Muslims live in today. So the truth is that the matter is as the Exalted said, even if not on this occasion: There may be a man who feels, for one reason or another, that he needs another wife, but who assesses this need? Others, even if they are close, or he himself? No doubt the matter returns to the one who desires the second marriage. And so I say, not like this now, in this time, with absolute permissibility without considering the atmospheres we live in and experience, which do not support a second marriage, and we do not deny one who married a second wife, and we do not know his motive for this marriage. I assume one of two things: that a person married only, only to show people that this is a permissible matter, contrary to what they imagine and contrary to what was directed in those radio stations we mentioned just now. I say, by Allah, this is a good intention, but I do not advise it. I do not advise marrying for what we mentioned just now. I fear, what I fear most, is that this person who marries for this purpose only, for nothing else related to his person that only the Knower of the Unseen knows, I fear that the common proverb will apply to him: Why? He wants to realize the principle of a legislated marriage, a recommended one, desirable in the Shari'ah. And I am among those who say that when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: that if a person marries with the intention of increasing the Ummah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), this is a noble and very great intention, let alone if it is accompanied by other intentions that he knows and no one else ever knows. But I say that he must look carefully at the matter and open both his eyes, that he is realizing a recommended practice, and resulting from it is neglecting an obligatory one; because among the Islamic rules is that if a Muslim falls between two evils, he chooses the lesser of them, but it is not among the Islamic rules that he places himself in an evil in order to realize holding fast to a recommended matter like this. So he must decide this truth: the second, third, and fourth marriage is a prescribed matter by the text of the Qur'an and the Sunnah, and the practice of the righteous Salaf proceeded on that, and many of them had more than one wife. But the time differs, as we mentioned just now. And such a ruling, and the thing is mentioned by its counterpart, by the commonality of the operative cause, which is the corruption of society. In the recent past, we had visitors who stayed up with us, and the following question came: Is it permissible for a Muslim to marry a Christian or Jewish woman? The answer is that the original ruling is that it is permissible, but in the atmosphere of this time, I say I do not see that; because this marriage will result in harms due to the difference between the Islamic atmosphere and the atmosphere of the first Islam, and due to...