#171: Ruling on He who Considers Marriage to Over Four Wives Halāl
*QUESTION*
*RULING ON HE WHO CONSIDERS MARRIAGE TO OVER FOUR WIVES HALĀL*
_” As-Salaamu alaikum, please what is the ruling of an individual who has many 80 or more wives, and he consider it halal by saying ALLAH allows it, is this individual consider to be Muslim, please should janaza be performed for such individual, please kindly elaborate, Jazakhallahu khayran.
*ANSWER*
Wa alaykum Salām Warahmatullāh Wabarakātuh
Alhamdulillāh, there is no doubt that it is sheer misguidance to marry more than four wives.
This is because the Ulamā have mentioned that the Ulamā of the Ummah and the Ummah in its entirety have formed a consensus on that the maximum number of women that a man can marry is four.
Al-Hāfidh Ibn Kathīr – rahimahullāh – said in his tafsīr quoting Imām Ash-Shāfi’ī – rahimahullāh – that he said:
_”And the evidences of the Sunnah of the Rasūl – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – have shown that it is not permisible for anyone aside the Rasul – salallāhu alayhi wasallam – to marry more than four wives at the same time.”_
Ibn Kathīr said:
_”And this which was said by Ash-Shāfi’ī is agreed upon by the Ulamā except for that which was narrated from some of the Shī’a that it is permissible to marry up to nine, and from some, without even a restriction of numbers”_
The Polymath, Abu Muhammad Ibn Hazm Al-Andalusī – rahimahullāh – said in Al-Muhallā:
_”None of the People of Islām differed on the fact that it is not permissible for anyone to marry more than four wives. Only a people of the Rawāfid differed in this regard whose Islām is questionable in the first place.”_
Imām Ibn Qudāmah said in Al-Mughnī – rahimahullāh -:
_”All of the People of Ilm have formed a consensus on this and we do not know of anybody that differed in this regard but for what was reported from Al-Qāsim Ibn Ibrahim that he considered it permissible to marry up to nine…and there is nothing tangible in this position because it deviates from Ijmā and the Sunnah…”_
Imam Ibn Hajar Al-Asqalani – rahimahullāh – devoted passages to debunking this very rare and insignificant position in his book Fat’hu Al-Bārī
There is a claim by Imām Al-Qurtubī – rahimahullāh – in his Tafsīr that the Dhāhirīs hold that it were permissible to marry up to nine. This attribution is wrong as there is not a single evidence proving that they held this position.
For this reason, Imām Ibn Āshūr – rahimahullāh – said in his Tafsīr:
_”And in the Tafsīr of al-Qurtubī is an attribution of this position to the Rawāfid and to some of the people of Dhāhir. And he did nor specifically mention anyone. But this is neither the statement of Dāwud Adh-Dhāhirī nor that of his disciples…”_
Of the Shi’ites, themselves, their Imams to whom they attribute themselves disagree with this position. Of them is Zaynu Al-‘Ābidīn as was mentioned by Ibn Hajar in the Fat’h.
And for this reason, the Ulamā mentioned the punishme for whosoever marries more than four.
Ibn Hazm said:
_”Mālik, Ash-Shāfi’ī and the fellows of both said: such a person must be stoned to death, unless if he is excused by virtue of ignorance.”_
Al-Muhallā 11/247
Such a person is still considered a Muslim as long as he does not consider it to be Halāl or considers it to be Halāl based on his ignorance of the falsity of the false interpretation made by the Rawāfid. It therefore becomes obligatory to explain to him the falsity of that position and the error in it.
If however he maintains its permissibility and not by virtue of his following of a particular madh’hab, then he becomes a Murtad upon whose corpse one must not observe Janāzah. From Allāh we seek refuge.
Lastly, we are sorry for the delay in response to this question. May Allah accept our excuses, āmīn.
Bārakallāhu fīkum
Jazākumullāhu Khayran
18th Jumadal Ula 1438H
📚 *IslamNode*
