Plural marriage and fair treatment of co-wives, Dought& clear, - * Ruling on plural marriage and conditions thereof

Share ::-

Share

What is the ruling on plural marriage?.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah has allowed men to have more than one wife, as He says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
This clearly shows that plural marriage is permissible, and that according to Islamic sharee’ah a man may marry one, two, three or four wives, but it is not permissible for him to marry more than four. This is the view of the mufassireen and fuqaha’; the Muslims are unanimously agreed on this point and there is no difference of opinion.
It should be noted that there are conditions attached to plural marriage:
1 – Justice and fairness.
Because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):“but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one” [al-Nisa’ 4:3]. This verse shows that justice is a condition of plural marriage being permissible. If a man fears that he will not be able to treat his wives fairly if he marries more than one, then it is forbidden for him to marry more than one. What is meant by justice here is treating all wives equally with regard to spending, clothing, staying overnight and other material matters which are within his ability to control.
With regard to justice and equal treatment in the area of love, he is not held accountable for that, and it is not required of him because it is not possible to control it. This is what is meant by the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):
“You will never be able to do perfect justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire”
[al-Nisa’ 4:129]
i.e., with regard to love of the heart.
2 – Being able to afford spending on plural wives.
The evidence for this is the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“And let those who find not the financial means for marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allaah enriches them of His Bounty”
[al-Noor 24:33]
In these verses Allaah commands the one who is able to get married but cannot afford it to remain chaste. One of the reasons for not be able to afford to get married is not having enough to pay the mahr (dowry) or not being able to spend on one’s wife.Al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar’ah, vol. 6, p. 286.
Some of the scholars are of the view that plural marriage is better than restricting oneself to one wife. Shaykh Ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) was asked: Is the basic principle concerning marriage plural marriage or marriage to one wife? He replied: The basic principle in sharee’ah is plural marriage for those who can afford it, if there is no fear of injustice, because of the many interests that are served by that, such as keeping himself and those whom he marries chaste, kind treatment of them, producing lots of children and increasing the numbers of the ummah and the numbers of those who worship Allaah alone. This is indicated by the words of Allaah (interpretation of the meaning):
“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
And because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) married more than one wife, and Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Indeed in the Messenger of Allaah (Muhammad) you have a good example to follow”
[al-Ahzaab 33:21]
One of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said, “As for me, I will not eat meat,” and another said, “As for me I will pray and never sleep”; another said, “As for me I will fast and never break my fast,” and another said: “As for me, I will never marry women.” When news of that reached him, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) addressed the people. He praised Allaah then he said: “You are the ones who said such and such. As for me, by Allaah, I fear Allaah more than you do, but I fast and I break my fast, I pray and I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my Sunnah has nothing to do with me.” These great words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) include both marriage to one woman and plural marriage.
Majallat al-Balaagh, issue no. 1015;Fataawa ‘Ulama al-Balad al-Haraam, p. 386.

Share

- PUBLISHERNajimudeeN M

For Children, - Daddy – Can I have $10?

Share ::-

Share

Share

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5 year old son waiting for him at the door.
“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
“Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the man.
“Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”
“That’s none of your business! What makes you ask such a thing?” the man said angrily.
“I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.
“If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour.”
“Oh, ” the little boy replied, head bowed. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I borrow $10.00 please?”
The father was furious. “If the only reason you want to know how much money I make is just so you can borrow some to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you’re being so selfish. I work long, hard hours everyday and don’t have time for such childish games.”
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even madder about the little boy’s questioning. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money. After an hour or so , the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. May be there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. “Are you asleep son?” he asked.
“No daddy, I’m awake,” replied the boy.
“I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It’s been a long day and I took my aggravation out on you. Here’s that $10.00 you asked for.”
The little boy sat straight up, beaming. “Oh, thank you daddy!” he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some more crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at the man.
“Why did you want more money if you already had some?” the father grumbled.
“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.
“Daddy, I have $20.00 now… Can I buy an hour of your time?”

- PUBLISHERNajimudeeN M

Commentary on Hadeeth, - Dought & clear, - * What is the meaning of the hadeeth “Do not inveigh against time (waqt) for Allaah is time waqt)”?

Share ::-

Share

Share

Is the saying "Do not curse time for Allah is time" authentic from the Rasool's sayings ? If so, how do you interpret this ? I am confused about this issue.
Praise be to Allaah.
The word used in the hadeeth is not waqt (= time), but dahr (= time, vicissitudes of time) [this element of confusion may stem from translation of the question into Arabic]. This hadeeth was narrated by Muslim (5827) from Abu Hurayrah.
Other versions of the hadeeth are:
“Do not inveigh against time (al-dahr), for Allaah is time”
“Let not any one of you say, ‘Woe to time,’ for Allaah is time”
“Allaah says, ‘The sons of Adam offend Me and say, Woe to time, but they should not say Woe to time. I am time, I alternate the night and the day, and if I willed, I could seize them both.’”
With regard to the meaning of the hadeeth, al-Nawawi said:
They said: this is a metaphor, because the Arabs used to inveigh against time when disasters such as death, old age, loss of money, etc., happened. They would say, ‘Woe to time’ and other phrases cursing or inveighing against time. So the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Do not inveigh against time for Allaah is time’, i.e., do not inveigh against the One Who brings about those disasters, for that will be directed towards Allaah, for He is the One Who causes them to happen. Time (al-dahr) means al-zamaan (time) which cannot do anything in and of itself, for it is just one of the things that have been created by Allaah.
The meaning of the phrase “for Allaah is time” means that He is the One Who causes those events and accidents to happen, and He is the Creator of all that happens. And Allaah knows best.
( Sharh Muslim, 15/3)
It should be noted that “time” (al-dahr) is not one of the Names of Allaah; it is attributed to Allaah in the sense that He created it and is controlling it, i.e., He is the Creator of time. Some phrases in the same hadeeth also indicate this, as when He says, “It is in My Hand, I alternate the night and the day.” The One Who alternates and the thing which is alternated cannot be one and the same; there is the One Who alternates – i.e., Allaah – and the thing which is alternated – i.e., time, which Allaah controls as and when He wills.
See: Fataawa al-‘Aqeedah by Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen, 1/163
Al-Haafiz Ibn Katheer said, in his Tafseer of the aayah (interpretation of the meaning):
“And they say: “There is nothing but our life of this world, we die and we live and nothing destroys us except Ad‑Dahr (time)” [al-Jaathiyah 45:24]
Al-Shaafa'i, Abu ‘Ubaydah and others said, in their commentary on the hadeeth of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), “Do not inveigh against time for Allaah is time” – During the Jaahiliyyah, if some difficulty, trial or disaster befell them, the Arabs would say ‘Woe to time’, attributing those events to time and inveighing against it. But the One Who brought those events to pass is Allaah, so it was as if they were inveighing against Allaah, may He be glorified, because in fact He was the One Who caused those things to happen. So it was forbidden to inveigh against time in this manner, because Allaah is Time, i.e., He is the One lWho is controlling it, but the Arabs were attributing those events to Time.
This is the best of the comments made in the Tafseer of this hadeeth, and this is what is meant. And Allaah knows best.
( Tafseer Ibn Katheer, 4/152)
Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him) was asked about the ruling on inveighing against time. He replied:
Inveighing against time may be divided into three categories:
1. Where the intention is to convey information without blaming or condemning. This is permissible, such as when a person remarks, “We are suffering from the heat (or the cold) today” and the like, because deeds are judged according to their intentions, and in this case a person is merely describing what is happening without expressing discontent.
2. Where a person inveighs against time as the cause of events, as if by inveighing against it he means that time is what causes things to alternate between good and bad. This isshirk akbar(major form ofshirk) because when a person attributes events to something other than Allaah, this means that he believes that there is another creator alongside Allaah.
3. Where a person inveighs against time but believes that the One who causes things to happen is Allaah, but he inveighs against time because of the bad things that happened. This is haraam because it is contrary to the sabr (patience) that is required, but it is not kufr because the person does not inveigh directly against Allaah. If he were to inveigh directly against Allaah, he would be a kaafir.
( Fataawaa al-‘Aqeedah, 1/197)
Other reprehensible expressions which people utter include cursing the hour or the day on which a certain bad thing happened, and so on. This is a sin because it is cursing and improper speech, and because this is cursing something which does not deserve to be cursed. What has the hour or the day done wrong? Nothing apart from the fact that the events happened then, but they are only created things which have no control over anything and cannot be held to blame. If a person inveighs against time, this reflects on the Creator of time. The Muslim should be above speaking in such a foolish and improper manner. And Allaah is the One Whose help we seek.

- PUBLISHERNajimudeeN M