A student of the Shaykh’s students recites the words of (Nasser al-'Umar) regarding plural marriage, and the Shaykh comments on them.

The Shaykh : Yes, please go ahead.

The questioner : He says: "Plural marriage." This is what Nasser al-'Umar says: "Plural marriage is a prescribed matter, and there is no room for discussion regarding its permissibility. One should fear for the religion of anyone who discusses it, and they err..." Do you support plural marriage, or do you not support plural marriage?

The Shaykh : I support plural marriage, and I am with you.

The Shaykh : Yes, please go ahead.

The questioner : "And those who think that plural marriage is permissible only in cases of dire necessity, such as the wife's infertility or her chronic illness, are in error. There is no evidence for this, nor has the Shari'ah revealed it. I am not currently engaged in researching the topic, but I am presenting what relates to our subject, the components of marital happiness. This is urging men and women to moderation in the matter of plural marriage, and commanding adherence to the Shari'ah methodology in it. Some of the husbands..."

The Shaykh : Excuse me, this is about the men. What do the women do?

The questioner : He says: "This is urging men and women to moderation in the matter of plural marriage."

The Shaykh : How is that possible?

The questioner : Moderation, he does not say justice.

The Shaykh : No, no, I say moderation for the men. As for the women?

The questioner : In our case, the women now, meaning also, the wife also wants to be moderate in the position if her husband desires to marry, she does not refuse this matter.

The Shaykh : The phrase does not convey this meaning like that.

The questioner : Justice.

The Shaykh : May Allah bless you. That is the justice that you have accustomed us to.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : My intention is that pairing the women here implies something that you may not want.

The questioner : What is it?

The Shaykh : It is that the woman also has, just as the man has. Well, the important point is not the crux of the matter here.

The questioner : "And commanding adherence to the Shari'ah methodology in it. Some of the husbands rush into plural marriage and proceed to marriage without consideration and waiting, and they fall into grave errors that shatter the structure of happiness in their family. Some of them make talking about plural marriage a means to irritate the wife, provoke her, and discipline her. And some of them do not consider in plural marriage anything but satisfying sexual desire, turning away from the noble Shari'ah purposes for which plural marriage was prescribed."

The Shaykh : Stop for a moment. The third matter, and some of them?

The questioner : "And some of them do not consider in plural marriage anything but satisfying sexual desire, turning away from the noble Shari'ah purposes for which plural marriage was prescribed, and neglecting what they should do in terms of justice, authority, and the ability to fulfill rights."

The Shaykh : Well, would your intention be spoiled if the sexual desire is removed from this phrase?

The questioner : The phrase can be repeated without it and we proceed.

The Shaykh : Now let us try. Read until we see the phrase without the mention.

The questioner : "And some of them do not consider in plural marriage anything but sexual desire." We cannot remove it.

The Shaykh : Why?

The questioner : Meaning we say: "And some of them do not consider in plural marriage." It does not come out.

The Shaykh : I think it comes out, in the name of Allah.

The questioner : The last line, two lines before the last.

The Shaykh : "And some of them turn away in plural marriage from the Shari'ah purposes, and some of them turn away in plural marriage from the Shari'ah purposes." Does it spoil what you aimed for?

The questioner : Why do we not clarify the issue first?

The Shaykh : Ah, now you have unveiled the veil in this question. Please, clarify. We tell you: What prevents a man from marrying, as Allah the Exalted said, and you alluded to the verse at the beginning of the speech: to satisfy his sexual appetite?

The questioner:..

The Shaykh : Do not get ahead of the words. With consideration of the things that you alluded to just now, because he turns away, he does not turn away, but he wants to satisfy his sexual appetite two, three, and four, without turning away from the other matters that you mentioned.

The questioner : This is permissible and it is prescribed.

The Shaykh : Yes, and this is what you thought of me, thinking good.
Al-'Umar: This is a fatwa I gave to one of the young men from Riyadh.

The Shaykh : So... well, then remove this word.

The questioner : Or we adjust the wording.

The Shaykh : And this is what we said and we have done...

The questioner : He says at the end: "And neglecting what they should do in terms of justice, authority, and the ability to fulfill rights. So his state is like the state of this poet who describes the misery and hardship and life he is in:
I married two out of my great ignorance *** Of what makes the wife of two wretched
So I said I will become a sheep between them *** Content between the two most honorable ewes
So I became like a ewe that is sacrificed *** And at night is tossed between the two most wicked she-wolves."

The Shaykh : No, no, like that, Professor?

The questioner : When he turned away from the Shari'ah objectives, he fell into this.

The Shaykh : This is not appropriate, may Allah bless you. If you remove the word sexual desire, and draw attention to the fact that the one who marries two or more should not turn away from the other matters, that is enough, you have been just.

The questioner : Yes, but this poem, Shaykh, this is a poem by a man...

The Shaykh : It is fine, but whoever reads the poem understands from you what you do not want, just as the phrase at the beginning also conveys what you do not want...
Al-'Umar: I record the phrase first...

The questioner : Complete the reading of the verses?

The Shaykh : Is there a continuation? No, that is enough for you.

The questioner : Because some of it means...
"The pleasure of this one stirs the anger of that one, *** So I am not safe from either of the two angers.
And he casts into the livelihood every harm, *** Just as the harm is between the two co-wives."

The Shaykh : Shaykh, may Allah bless you, this was between the wives of the Messenger, meaning one of them was jealous of her sister, her co-wife. This is unavoidable, absolutely, and you must know the story of the broken vessel, and he said on this occasion, peace and blessings be upon him: Well, how was this? ...

The questioner : We continue, Shaykh.

The Shaykh : Please.

The questioner : "And he casts into the livelihood every harm, *** Just as the harm is between the two co-wives.
For this one a night and for that one another, *** Constant reproach in the two nights.
If you love to remain honorable, *** With hands full of good,
Then live as a bachelor, and if you cannot, *** One is enough for you from the evil of the two co-wives."

The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar.

The questioner : I said, Shaykh, this is the state of a man who married and turned away from the Shari'ah objectives. I decided the issue and clarified it and explained the Shari'ah methodology in it, and I said whoever turns away from this methodology, this is his state.

The Shaykh : I do not think this is understood in any case. We look at the phrase.

The questioner : We change the phrase. We change the text of the phrase.

The questioner : From "some" to "aimed."

The questioner : I have no objection, no, there is no objection at all, but I say, praise be to Allah.

The Shaykh : If he aims for good, then praise be to Allah.

The questioner : By Allah, may Allah reward with good the one who pointed out our faults to us.

The questioner : Well, give us the text of the phrase.The Shaykh : May Allah reward you with good

The questioner : As for the poem, in fact, I have been thinking of removing it for a while.

The questioner : In the women's section, and the barrier between us, you know, in Hajj, it is light.

The Shaykh : A curtain.

The questioner : No, it is not a curtain, it is a phrase, but like wooden planks, yes.

The Shaykh : Wooden planks.

The questioner : So I decided to attach to plural marriage and explained the Shari'ah methodology and called to it, and I also explained that the need and the need of the Muslim community call for it from several aspects, for the increase of offspring, as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and the fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) that exists through the houses now. We have a university, Shaykh, with seven thousand students, and about a thousand of them have not married, even though it is not possible to enter the university unless one has passed the age of marriage, at eighteen or nineteen. Then, if there are voices, if a knock on the wooden door, and a very angry message came, I stood up and read the message, an angry message, and I replied to it with a reply, meaning severe. Of course, I said nothing is suitable except this. Then the women calmed down. After a period, when I returned to Riyadh, she sent me a message through one of my relatives, apologizing for what happened. Yes, and she said, I mean, I made a mistake. I do not know, by Allah, who she is, and I am the one who directed the question to you.

The Shaykh : And it is better for you.

The questioner : Yes, so she said, I hope you will forgive me.

The Shaykh : We fear for him that he will turn back.

The questioner : And this is what happened.

The Shaykh : Well, but we did not understand what this woman said until you were severe with her in the answer.

The questioner : She says, why do you call for plural marriage and my husband goes out? She says that my husband does not come except at midnight and goes out in the morning. What if he had two wives? And how, and how. Her husband is a doctor.

The Shaykh : This reminded me of the biography of one of the scholars of hadith, named Ma'mar ibn Rashid al-Basri. He went to Yemen, of course, to seek knowledge and hadith, so he stayed there for a period. Then he resolved to return to Basra. When one of the clever men learned of this, he said to the people of Yemen, "Tie him up, tie him up!" So they married him off, and thus they tied him up.

The questioner : You are from Jordan, so they tied you up.

The Shaykh : They tied me up, yes. But if it had been me, I would not have come here except to return there. But I came here, yes, please go ahead.

The questioner : I have a question.

The Shaykh : I have no objection.

The questioner : ... Professor Abu Badr, you responded to this woman by saying that plural marriage has beneficial aspects, meaning such and such.

The questioner : I mentioned to her that the issue of plural marriage, her objection to the principle of plural marriage, is mistaken because of a situation that occurs with an individual, or let us suppose that her husband did not act justly. One should not derive a general ruling from that. This is a specific case and an error, and it is he who deviated from the methodology. It does not invalidate the principle, nor does it invalidate the virtue. So I clarified this to her, and I said, if you have a specific case, it is addressed, and we spoke to present a Shari'ah methodology in this regard.

Another questioner : Now, regarding the state level, according to what I heard, you currently have regulations from the state, prohibiting marriage from abroad and prohibiting marrying daughters to abroad. Is this regulation still in place?

The questioner : But they allow, they allow it specifically if a man has a wife and wants a second wife, they allow it with regulations, yes, yes. But the first wife is the one where there is difficulty. As for if a man says, "I have a wife and I want a second wife," it is easy; he can make an excuse and say, "I could not find anyone to marry me."

The Shaykh : Every individual is free to ask whatever he wishes. Please go ahead.