12-04-2003, 05:58 PM
Asalaamu alikum and Peace be with you,
Forgive me is I state something that has already been said in this thread.
I'm not in agreement with a man taking more wives solely for the purpose of lust, and I think that most often that is not the case. I only have one thing about this reason to say: A man can love his wife very much, but maybe she is unable to care for this kind of need due to a medical reason, so what then? Say for example the wife is in a terible accident, leaving her paralyzed, and the husbands needs can no longer be fufilled by this wife. I don't see how it can be percieved as a bad thing if he takes a second wife while continuing to provide love and support for the first one.
I do not know any brother who has more than one wife, but I will tell you what. I know of a young women whos rescently widowed with children. Most of the brothers I know are already married, however if one of them, and I'll even include my own husband, was in a position to take a women like this as a second wife, I would think they are doing a very noble thing. This is a huge responsibility on the part of the man most of all. He must be equitable to them both. I cannot imagine this is an easy task. So I believe that if there is some man taking on a second wife and he is doing it for such a noble reason as the one I just mentioned, he is really doing this not for his sake, not for his desires, but for the sake of Allah, and I have a high level of respect for these brothers, and I wish them and their families success.
This is a topic that can be talked into the ground, and of course every situation is different. But rather than discrediting it alltogether, we should try to understand the benefits of it. Allah knows best.
~Jennifer