On Multiple Wives

Polygyny, where a man marries multiple wives, it is viewed in Islam as a socially responsible and ethically regulated practice that addresses specific needs within a community. The Qur’an merely permits a man, not obligates, to marry up to four wives under strict conditions, emphasizing justice and the ability to provide for and treat each wife fairly. This allowance is seen as a means to ensure the protection and care of women, particularly in contexts where there may be a surplus of women due to war, widowhood, or other societal factors, preventing their marginalization and offering them the security of a family structure. In the religion, men are seen as protectors and maintainers of women and not vice versa. With such a role, they are given certain advantages and responsibilities.

A notable contradiction arises in the West where critics of Islam will condemn the practice of permitting four wives, while simultaneously accepting Western laws permitting an unlimited number of girlfriends and even consensual adulterous partners! This discrepancy highlights a double standard; in Islamic polygyny, men are bound by stringent rules to ensure fairness, financial support, and respect for each wife. In contrast, Western laws permitting multiple girlfriends often absolve men of any formal responsibilities or obligations, potentially leading to exploitation and lack of accountability. The Islamic framework, therefore, arguably offers greater protection and dignity to women by mandating clear duties and commitments from men. However, for some odd reason, it is the Islamic model which is seen as the oppressive one for women and not the Western one.

It is recommended to be generous to one's family on the Day of Ashura (10th of Muhrarram).

Ibn Mansur asked Imam Ahmad: Have you heard the hadith, "Whoever is generous to his family on the Day of Ashura, Allah will be generous to him throughout the year"? He replied: Yes, Sufyan ibn Uyaynah narrated it from Ja'far Al-Ahmar from Ibrahim ibn Muhammad ibn Al-Muntashir—who was among the best people of his time—that it reached him: whoever is generous to his family on the Day of Ashura, Allah will be generous to him throughout his year.

Sufyan ibn Uyaynah said: We have tried it for fifty or sixty years and found nothing but good.

It was mentioned about Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him): We tried it and found it to be true.

Abu Al-Zubayr said the same.

Shu'bah said the same.

Yahya ibn Sa'id said: We tried it and found it to be true.

وينبغي في يوم عاشوراء التوسعة على العيال.

سأل ابن منصور الإمامَ أحمدَ: هل سمعت في الحديث: "من وسع على عياله يوم عاشوراء وسع الله عليه سائر السنة"؟ فقال: نعم، رواه سفيان بن عيينة عن جعفر الأحمر عن إبراهيم بن محمد بن المنتشر -وكان من أفضل أهل زمانه- أنه بلغه: أن من وسع على عياله يوم عاشوراء؛ وسع الله عليه سائر سنته".

قال سفيان بن عيينة: قد جربناه منذ خمسين أو ستين سنة؛ فما رأيناه إلا خيرا.

وذُكر عن جابر رضي الله عنه: جربناه فوجدناه كذلك.

وقال أبو الزبير مثله.

وقال شعبة مثله.

وقال يحيى بن سعيد: جربنا ذلك فوجدناه حقًّا.

Atheist Perspective: The diversity of religious beliefs and gods is evidence that none of them can be true. If there were a true God, why would there be so many conflicting religions?

Response: Islam teaches that there is only one true God and that He has sent messengers to every nation throughout history (Quran 10:47). The differences in religious beliefs can be attributed to human distortion of the original messages. Islam views itself as the final and complete revelation from God, correcting the deviations that occurred in previous religions. The message of Tawheed (the oneness of God) is central to Islam and has been the core message of all prophets. Further, the existence of multiple conflicting religions does not necessitate that all of them are false because one of them could be telling the truth. Let’s take an example to illustrate this point:

Imagine multiple people claim ownership of a home. How would we determine the true owner? Well, we would evaluate their claims in light of evidence (deed, court record, pictures, will, paperwork, etc.). If one of them is able to prove the ownership, then we’ve determined that even though multiple parties claimed ownership, not all of them were false in their claim. Similarly, if we have multiple religions presenting different beliefs, then the proper thing to do is evaluate the claims in light of evidence (consistency, rational evidence, historical record, etc.) to determine which one is likely the truth. Despite what ignorant haters may hold about our beautiful faith, Islam will always come out on top in consistency, rationality, fairness, justice, conviction, etc. when evaluated objectively.

Ibn al-Jawzi: On How to Soften Hearts:

Imam Ibn al-Jawzi [d.597H/1201CE] writes in his Sayd al-Khatir:

‘I see that busying oneself with jurisprudence (fiqh) or learning hadiths is hardly sufficient to rectify the heart, unless one adds to this the reading of heart-melting traditions (raqa’iq) and the study of the lives of the pious predecessors. For they reached the objective of the texts and transcended the external form of the prescribed duties to taste their inner meanings and intent.

‘I do not inform you of this save after personal exposure and experience. For I have found that most of the scholars and students of hadith are primarily concerned with attaining the shortest chain of transmission, or to increase the collections of hadiths narrated by a single narrator or dealing with a single theme or subject; while the majority of jurists busy themselves with dialectics or how to win debates. So how can hearts ever be softened by such things?

‘Previously, groups of the predecessors would visit a pious person only to observe his manners and conduct, not to learn knowledge from him. For the fruits of knowledge lie in comportment and conduct; so understand this. Hence combine the learning of fiqh and hadith with study of the lives of the predecessors and worldly renunciants (zuhhad) so that this may be a cause for your heart to soften.

‘To this end I have written biographies on each of the renowned, honourable persons, detailing their lives and character. I have written one on al-Hasan [al-Basri], Sufyan al-Thawri, Ibrahim b. Adham, Bishr al-Hafi, Ahmad b. Hanbal, Ma‘ruf [al-Karkhi], as well as other scholars and renunciants. And God grants the enabling grace to achieve the objective.

‘However, actions cannot be rectified with a paucity of knowledge. For their example is like that of a commander and a subordinate, with the soul stubbornly between the two. Only with the combined efforts of the commander and the subordinate can the goal be reached. And we seek refuge in God from apathy.’1

_________________________
1. Sayd al-Khatir (Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 2004), 228-9.

Al-Junayd used to say: "The patient poor person is better than the grateful rich person, even if they are equal in fulfilling their respective conditions, because the pious rich person enjoys himself and his wealth, while the patient poor person endures suffering and hardships, thus surpassing the rich person in this regard."

This is similar to what was said by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, who used to say: "I do not consider anything equal to poverty," and he greatly valued the state of the patient poor person.

Al-Marwazi said that once Imam Ahmad mentioned some poor people and began to praise them and frequently ask about them, so I told him, "He needs knowledge." He replied, "Woe to you, be quiet. His patience with poverty and enduring hardship is better than much knowledge. These people are much better than us."

وكان يقول: الفقير الصابر أفضل من الغنيّ الشاكر وإن تساويا في القيام بحكم حالهما لأن الغنيّ التقيّ يمتّع نفسه وينعم صفته والفقير الصابر قد أدخل على صفته الآلام والمكاره فقد زاد عليه بذلك، وهذا كما قال وكذلك كان أحمد بن حنبل يقول: ما أعدل بالفقر شيئاً وكان يفضّل حال الفقر يعظم شأن الفقير الصابر وقال المروزي وذكر بعض الفقراء فجعل يمجّده ويكثر السؤال عنه قال: فقلت له يحتاج إلى علم فقال ويحك اسكت صبره على الفقر ومقاساته للضرّ فيه خير من كثير من العلم ثم قال هؤلاء خير منا بكثير

كتاب قوت القلوب

Simple Steps for a Happier Life:

HERE ARE TEN simple steps, culled from the Revelation, that lead to a happier, more fulfilled life:

1 - Cleaving to Allah’s obedience.
2 - After doing our best to do what will procure benefit or ward off harm, to then be at peace with whatever outcome Allah decrees.
3 - Striving to ensure a lawful (halal) living.
4 - Being content with what Allah apportions to you.
5 - Not competing with others in worldliness.
6 - Working for what comes after death.
7 - Having a clean heart towards others.
8 - Being in the service of others as much as we can.
9 - Commitment to supplication (du’a) in times of ease, as well as hardship.
10 - Learning to treat wealth like we do the toilet, in that we use it when needed, but it has no place in our heart.

Ibn al-Jawzi on Being Rightly-Guided and Rightly-Guiding Through Example:

LEST THE SEEKER forgets, it must never be about learning or transmission of knowledge for the sake of itself. Rather, it must be about transformation via knowledge.

We must be not be fixated upon aqwal; mere ‘words’ as our goal, but on a‘mal and ahwal; actions and spiritual states. Learning isn’t the aim. Becoming is!

To this end, Ibn al-Jawzi said about two of his teachers that had the profoundest influence upon him: one being al-Anmati [d.538H/1142CE], the hadith master of Baghdad in his age; the other, al-Jawaliki [d.540H/1144CE], the grammarian:

‘I have met shaykhs with differing states and varying levels of knowledge. The most beneficial of them to me, in terms of companionship, were those who acted on their knowledge, even if others were more learned than them.

‘I have [also] met a group of hadith scholars who had memorised [much] and were learned. But they were lax about backbiting, under the guise of impugning or validating [hadith reporters] (jarh wa ta‘dil), and they took payment in return for narrating hadiths. They would [also] be hasty in answering questions, even if they were wrong, because [they thought] their status would diminish [if they did not].

‘I met ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Anmati. He was on the code (qanun) of the salaf. No backbiting was ever heard in his sittings, and he never sought payment for teaching hadiths. Whenever I read heart-softening hadiths to him, he would weep incessantly. When he did weep, and I was young at the time, it would stir my heart and take root in it. He was on the character (samt) of those shaykhs whose description we hear about in the reports.

‘I [also] met Shaykh Abu Mansur al-Jawaliki. He was given to much silence and was extremely careful and judicious about what he would utter. Sometimes he would be asked a plain [easy] question that some of his young students would rush to answer. He would withhold from replying until he was absolutely sure. He fasted abundantly and frequently kept to silence.

‘I benefitted most from seeing these two more than I did from other than them. So what I understood from this was that guidance through action is better than guidance through speech.’1
____________1. Ibn al-Jawzi, Sayd al-Khatir (Riyadh: Madar al-Watan, 2017), 208-09.

Do not ever leave your daily five prayers. There are millions of people in their graves right now just wishing that they could return to life so that they can prostrate to Allah, even if it is just one prostration!

You are still gifted with life and opportunity. Do not waste it. Tomorrow we too will be under the grave wishing the same. So increase in these prostrations as much as you can now through supererogatory (nawaafil) prayers! We will only truly realize the value of these prostrations in the afterlife.

May Allah rectify our affairs before we meet Him!

Yahya ibn Ma'een - may Allah have mercy on him - said: "I have not seen anyone like Ahmad ibn Hanbal; we accompanied him for fifty years and he never boasted to us about anything of the righteousness and goodness he possessed. We saw Imam Ahmad go down to the market of Baghdad, buy a bundle of firewood, put it on his shoulder. When people recognized him, the people of the markets left their trade, the people of the stores left their stores, and the passersby stopped in their tracks, greeting him and saying: 'Let us carry the firewood for you!' He shook his hand, his face turned red, his eyes filled with tears, and he said:

'We are a poor people, were it not for Allah's covering, we would have been exposed.'"

? [Hilyat Al-Awliya 9/181]

The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said:

أُمَّتِي هَذِهِ أُمَّةٌ مَرْحُومَةٌ لَيْسَ عَلَيْهَا عَذَابٌ فِي الآخِرَةِ عَذَابُهَا فِي الدُّنْيَا الْفِتَنُ وَالزَّلاَزِلُ وَالْقَتْلُ

"This nation of mine is a nation given mercy. It will not be punished in the afterlife. It's punishment will be in this life through trials, earthquakes, and being killed."

[Abu Dawud 4278]
Explanation

This hadith like some others provide evidence that whatever types of problems and afflictions believers face in this life will help expiate their sins so that they return to Allah with little to no sins. The believers among the previous nations had it much worse, they were often not shown the same type of relief and ease that the nation of Muhammad ﷺ is shown. They were required to endure much more for forgiveness and acceptance. This relief is part and parcel of the mercy of Allah on this blessed nation. It is reported in a number of reports that the Prophet ﷺ used to strive in making supplications often for his nation. Perhaps such reliefs are a fruit of those supplications.

It should be noted, however, that some scholars do point out that there are reports which indicate that some believers may be punished in the afterlife, especially those with major sins, but will eventually be taken out of the Fire and will not be punished for all eternity. The hadith here is making a generic claim. Perhaps it means that the predominant situation for them is forgiveness. Some opine it means that if any among them is to be punished, it will not be the same as the punishment for those who disbelieve in Allah.

Allah Knows Best.