Is it permissible to disapprove of one who says that a man may marry nine wives instead of four?
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The questioner : The school of Dawud al-Zahiri holds that a man may marry nine, not four?
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly. We disapprove of this because there is a Sunnah. When Ghaylan al-Thaqafi married ten wives, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Therefore, this is not accepted from him. Furthermore, some of the scholars have reported scholarly consensus (ijma') that it is not permissible to marry more than four. So we have a Sunnah and a consensus. We have said that in matters of independent legal reasoning (ijtihad), the texts are open to this or that interpretation, but when something is clear, it is not accepted, and one must disapprove of the person who holds it.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : He is interpreting the verse or explaining the verse according to his apparent understanding, seeing it this way.
The questioner : But the apparent meaning of the verse is not that, because the reference is the Arabic language, and the Arabic language says "two, three, and four," meaning take two by two, take three by three, take four by four. It is not possible for the most eloquent speech to intend "take nine" and then say "two, three, and four." If a person wanted to say "buy me nine sheep" and said "buy two, three, and four," would this be considered eloquence or inarticulateness? It is undoubtedly inarticulateness. Buy nine; why would you say two, three, and four? So the Arabic language, in its capacity as Arabic, regardless of it being the language of the Qur'an, prevents expressing nine in this manner. The apparent meaning of the Qur'an undoubtedly contradicts this opinion. However, what confused them is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) left behind nine wives. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has known specific characteristics in matters of marriage that no one shares with him. Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes, exactly. We disapprove of this because there is a Sunnah. When Ghaylan al-Thaqafi married ten wives, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him:
Choose four of them
اختر منهن أربعاThe questioner : ...
The Shaykh : He is interpreting the verse or explaining the verse according to his apparent understanding, seeing it this way.
The questioner : But the apparent meaning of the verse is not that, because the reference is the Arabic language, and the Arabic language says "two, three, and four," meaning take two by two, take three by three, take four by four. It is not possible for the most eloquent speech to intend "take nine" and then say "two, three, and four." If a person wanted to say "buy me nine sheep" and said "buy two, three, and four," would this be considered eloquence or inarticulateness? It is undoubtedly inarticulateness. Buy nine; why would you say two, three, and four? So the Arabic language, in its capacity as Arabic, regardless of it being the language of the Qur'an, prevents expressing nine in this manner. The apparent meaning of the Qur'an undoubtedly contradicts this opinion. However, what confused them is that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) left behind nine wives. But the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has known specific characteristics in matters of marriage that no one shares with him. Yes.