Welcome to Ahmadiyyat, The True Islam — Page 430
− objection. Every sensible person can understand that plurality of wives is not obligatory in Islam, but is permissible. If a husband desires, for some valid − reason to take advantage of this permission, and his wife is not happy over it, she can ask for divorce, and need not reconcile herself to the situation proposed by the husband. If a woman receives an offer of marriage from a man who is already married it is open to her to decline the offer. But if the both women are agreeable to the husband's proposal, no one else has the right to intervene in the matter. God Almighty having permitted plurality of wives in case of valid need and the women concerned being agreeable to the proposed situation, no one has any business to interfere. This is a matter of human rights. It effects both the first wife and the second wife. If the first wife is not agreeable and feels that her rights as a wife will be placed in jeopardy by the second marriage of her husband, she can seek deliverance from the situation by demanding a divorce, and should the husband be unwilling to comply with her demand she can enforce it through a court. If the proposed second wife is unwilling to face the situation, she need not consent to it. It is idle to object that justice cannot be maintained in such a situation. Nevertheless God Almighty in the Holy Qur an has directed that ’ − a husband who has more wives than one should deal equitably with each, and if he should be apprehensive that he would not be able to do so he should confine himself to only one wife: ÓÃeA ¹»g ¸ÃBÀÍA O¸¼¿ B¿ ËA ÑfYA̯ AÌ»f¨M ÜA N°a ÆB¯ ‘ ‘ Ð Ø æä ä ê Ð È æ å å ä æ ä æ ä ä ä ä æ ä í ä ê ä ä æ å ê æ ä î ä æ å æ ê æ ê ä Ą̻M ÜA , È æ å æ å ä î ä fa in khiftum alla ta‘dilu fa wahidatan au ma malakat − − − − aimanukum dhalika adna alla ta‘ulu − − − − − − And if you fear you will not deal justly, then marry only one or what your right hands possess. That is the nearest way for you to avoid injustice. (4:4) 430