1. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims
  2. Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

Ask A Question About Islam And Muslims

30 Questions

I understand that Islam allows a man to marry multiple wives within the rules of Sharia. However, what is the wisdom in such marriages as it relates to the first wife who often undergoes jealousy and depression?
Zoheir Ali Esmail

Bismillah

Thank you for your question. In our scriptural sources women are not encouraged to have these feelings as they are considered a blameworthy type of ghirah (when you want something only for yourself). They are feelings that are not validated. Similar to the feelings of jealousy and depression when someone doesn't want anyone to do better than them, it is not upon people to not do better than that person, but upon the person to control and work on themselves.  As to the wisdom of allowing polygyny there is much wisdom, such that the feelings of the first wife in some cases is not enough of a reason to make it impermissible. Rather, the first wife has to control these tendencies and get used to the idea in the knowledge that this is something that God has allowed. At times, if polygyny is done with wisdom it can improve the situation of the first wife and the relationship between her and her husband. 

These feelings are also enhanced by expectations and cultures, which are again not factors that influence permissibility as it is upon Muslims and Muslim society to create expectations and cultures in line with what is permissible and impermissible.

May you always be successful 
Could you please explain Quranic verse 33.33 as some people say that it is the wives of the Prophet (s) who are the ones being purified?
Sayyed Mohammad Al-Musawi

The verse 33:33 was revealed informing about the Infallible progeny of the Prophet (SAWA). Hadith al-Kisaa'  stated that the Prophet (SAWA ) kept the kisa (cloak) on Ali (as), Fatima (as), Hassan (as) and Hussain (as) and said: O Allah, theses are my Ahlul Bayt, so keep filth away from them and purify them real purification.. None of the wives of the Prophet was allowed to join them. This authentic Hadeeth is narrated  in Sunni books like:

Saheeh Muslim 4450

Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 2903 and 16374 and 25300 and 25339 and 25383 and 25521 and more.

Tirmithi 3129 and 3130 and 3719 and 3809.

Nasa'ee in Sunan Al-Kubra v.5 p.107 and v.5 p.112

al-Bayhaqi in Al-Sunan al-Kubba v.2, p.149 and v.2 p. 142

It was also narrated in Shia books by:

·        Sheikh al-Tusi in his book al-Amaali

·        Tafsir al-'Ayyashi

·        Tafsir Furat al-Kufi

·        Tafsir al-Qummi by Ali ibn Ibrahim

·        The book of Sulaym ibn Qays

·        Kitab al-Khisal by Sheikh al-Saduq

Wassalam.
Why does it seem like the Quran is talking to men and not women such as when it says 'your wives' and 'your women'? Why doesn't the Quran address women directly?
Amina Inloes

There are a few reasons, including:

* Modesty (regarding explicit subjects, the Qur'an tends to be more modest and address men specifically as well as use euphemisms, even if both men and women are intended)
* Generality (zawj/azwaj can be understood in some cases to mean "spouses" in general and not specifically "wives" as it is often translated)
* In some cases, it is specifically addressing men and speaking about women (for instance, the verse about zihar when it talks about men divorcing their wives via zihar)

So it really depends on the verse. A good resource to look at for varying interpretations of verses is _The Study Quran_ edited by S. H. Nasr.

Hope that helps!
How many wives did Imam Hasan (as) have? Did he marry multiple times as is mentioned in some books?
Zaid Alsalami

Bismihi ta'ala

This is indeed an important topic, and can be approached from different angles. One necessary point to mention is the difference of methodology of scrutinising narrations between the Usuli Shia scholars and the Akhbari Shia scholars. The would determine the form of how this question is answered. Of course, if we discuss this here it would become a very long reply, so I will keep the answer brief.

The narrations that point to Imam Hasan al-Mujtaba (a.s.) being a mizwāj or a mitlāq, which means someone who excessively marries (zawāj) and excessively gets divorced (talāq) is completely refuted and rejected by all our Usuli scholars, and for Akhbari scholars, they interpret it in a certain way, or withhold their opinion. 

Indeed, the presnce of these fabircated narrations is was just another scheme played out by the evil Abbasid propaganda against Ahlul Bayt (a.s.). 

Some of the number of ex-wives that have been mentioned are way beyond any rational acceptance, like 300, or even more. 

Numerous Shia historians have discussed this, and refuted it all. Yes, there are mentioning of the Imam (a.s.) having up to 20 wives (taking the maximum number mentioned), but not all at once. This was something very common and normal at that time. We can also not verify exactly if this was the case, and whether some of the wives had more than one name, which meant that she was counted as being more than one, but in reality it was one person. 

Please read this interesting article on this topic:

http://ijtihadnet.com/did-imam-hassan-get-married-and-divorce-multiple-t...

With prayers for your success.