Marriage II: Combining wives

قال صدر الشريعة في النقاية: ويُحَرّم نكاحُ امرأةٍ وعدتُها نكاحَ إمرأةٍ أيَّتهما فُرِضَتْ ذكرًا لم تحلَّ لهُ ووطأَها مِلْكًا. وكذا وَطؤُه مِلْكًا وَطأها نِكاحًا وملَكًا لا نكاحًا. وإن نكحها لايطأ واحدةً حتى يُحِّرمَ الأخْرَي

Translation

Marriage to a woman or a woman in iddat prohibits the marriage to [another] woman who if either of the two [women]1 were to be assumed to be a man they will not be allowed [to marry each other].2

Similarly, [it is prohibited to have] intercourse with [a slave girl] he owns [who is related to a woman in his marriage or iddat in the manner described].3

Likewise, intercourse with a slave girl he owns [will prohibit intercourse with a woman] to whom he is married or owns [if that slave girl is related to her in the manner described].4 [However, intercourse with a slave girl he owns] does not [prohibit him from] marrying [a woman related to that slave girl in the manner described]. So if he marries [such a woman], he may not have intercourse [with either] one until he makes the other one prohibited.

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Muhammad Saifur Rahman Nawhami

28 Muharram 1442 AH
16 September 2020 CE

Status: Draft
Ref: 200916501

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• 1The already married wife and the intended wife
• 2For example, Zayd is married to Ruqayyah and he wanted to a second wife. He cannot marry Ruqayyah's sister (Kulthum). Because if you were to assume Ruqayyah to be a boy, he would not be allowed to marry Kulthum as it is prohibited for a brother to marry his sister. So in this case, marriage to Ruqayyah is prohibiting Zayd from marrying Kulthum. The rule will apply the same if Ruqayyah was in iddat as the marriage has not fully terminated.
• 3For example, Zayd is married to Ruqayyah. He owns Ruqayyah's sister (Kulthum) as a slave. He is not allowed to have intercourse with her as he would do with his other slave girls due to being to Ruqayyah. The same is the case if Ruqayyah was in iddat.
• 4For example, Zayd owns two sisters as slaves: Shakirah and Salihah. If he has intercourse with Shakirah, it is prohibited for him to have intercourse with Salihah. It will only be allowed if he no longer owns Shakirah or Sharikah gets married elsewhere. Similar is the case if he married Shakirah's sister who is a free woman. He is not allowed to have intercourse with her although marriage is valid as is mentioned next.