Nowadays, majority of husbands have a single wife with the exception of some. In this situation, how can a woman be asked to tolerate her husband’s second marriage. Isn’t it a responsibility of the husband to inform her prior to the marriage of him entering into another marriage so that she can choose to marry him or not?
Abdullah
Answer:
Though it is not a precondition for the validity of the
nikaah with the second wife that the husband informs his first wife of the
nikaah, however we totally discourage secret nikaahs as this leads to creating
suspicion in the minds of people regarding the man and woman whose nikaah has
not been publicized as well as a lot of confusion and complications in many
masaail i.e. the husband not being able to maintain equality between the wives
in regard to their night turns, wealth and other aspects, laws of inheritance
in the case of death, etc.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.