Aslam

Praise be to Allah.

The one who has more than one wife has to treat all his

wives fairly. One of the matters in which he must be fair is the division

of his time, i.e., he must give each wife a day and a night, and he

must stay with her on that night.

Al-Shaafa’i (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “The

Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the opinion of the majority

of Muslim scholars indicate that a man has to divide his days and nights

between his wives [giving each a full day and night], and that he has

to be fair in doing so. (al-Umm, 5/158). And he said: I do not

know of any (scholarly) disagreement with the view that a man must share

his time among his wives and do so fairly. (al-Umm, 5/280).

Al-Baghawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: If a

man has more than one wife, he has to treat them equally, if they are

free [i.e., not slaves], whether they are Muslims or from among the

People of the Book [i.e., Jewish or Christian]. If he does not treat

them equally, then he has disobeyed Allaah and he has to make it up

to the one whom he wronged. It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the

Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever has two wives

and leans towards (i.e. favours) one of them (over the other), will

come on the Day of Resurrection with half of his body leaning.” However

there is some dispute concerning its isnaad. (Narrated by Abu Dawood,

2/242; al-Tirmidhi, 3/447; al-Nasaa’i, 7/64; Ibn Maajah, 1/633; classed

as saheeh by al-Haafiz in Buloogh al-Maraam, 3/310, and al-Albaani

in Irwaa’ al-Ghaleel, 7/80).

What is meant by this “leaning” is favouring in terms

of actions; a man will not be taken to task for the inclination of his

heart if he treats (his wives) equally in practical terms. Allaah says

(interpretation of the meaning):

“You will never be able to do perfect justice between

wives even if it is your ardent desire, so do not incline too much to

one of them…”

[al-Nisaa’ 4:129]

What this means is that you will never be able to treat

them equally in your heart, so do not incline too much towards one of

them, i.e., do not make your actions follow your whims and desires.

(Sharh al-Sunnah, 9/150-151)

Ibn Hazam (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: Treating

co-wives equally is obligatory, most of all sharing one’s nights between

them.

(al-Muhalla, 9/175)

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on

him) said: He has to treat his wives fairly according to the consensus

of the Muslims. In the four Sunans it was narrated from Abu Hurayrah

that the Prophet

(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever has two wives…”

He has to be fair in his division of time between them. So if he stays

with one of them for one night, or two or three, he should stay with

the other for the same number of nights, and he should not give preference

to one of them in his sharing of his time.

(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 32/269)

Al-‘Ayni said, commenting on the hadeeth, “Whoever has

two wives…”: It was said that what was meant was that half of his body

would be leaning in a real sense, or that he would have no acceptable

excuse for favouring one wife over the other. The apparent meaning is

that this is in the real sense. This is indicated by the report of Abu

Dawood, “with half of his body leaning.” The punishment fits the crime,

because he did not treat them fairly or he deviated from what is right.

Because of his being unfair and favouring one of them, his punishment

is that he will come before the witnesses on the Day of Resurrection

with one half of his body leaning.

(‘Umdat al-Qaari’, 20/199. See also al-Mabsoot,

5/217).

Al-Shawkaani also understood this to mean that it is

obligatory (to treat co-wives fairly). See al-Sayl al-Jiwaar,

2/301; Nayl al-Awtaar, 6/216

Ibn Qudaamah al-Maqdisi (may Allaah have mercy on him)

said: We know of no dispute among the scholars concerning the fact that

it is obligatory to treat co-wives equally when sharing one’s time between

them. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “and

live with them honourably” [al-Nisaa’ 4:19],

but favouring one of them is not honourable.

Al-Mughni, 8/138

This husband has to fear Allaah and be fair in his division

of his time. The wife has to tell him of the ruling of sharee’ah concerning

what he is doing, and of the warning of mistreatment. She should remind

him of Allaah and the Hereafter, so that he will check himself and be

fair in his division of time. This is better than separating, in sha

Allah. And Allaah knows best.