A question is often asked about a man who is already married: if he wants to marry a second wife, must he first have his first wife’s permission? Is her permission one of the conditions of the second marriage, so that marrying without it would be wrong or invalid? This page gathers what the scholars in my library say on the question. Their answers build the ruling from the conditions they do name for a man taking another wife, and from the one route by which a wife’s word can bind her husband beforehand: a condition she sets in her marriage contract and he accepts.
The passages below come from two books: Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women, where Shaykh Ibn Baz answers the questions on polygyny and on marriage conditions, and Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen’s The Book of Marriage, his explanation of the conditions a wife may stipulate. Their words are quoted word for word. Everything else on this page is my own summary of what they say, and the references at the end show where each passage stands. One thing should be said at the start, because it shapes the whole answer: no book in my library states the answer to this question in a single sentence. What they state is the conditions, and this page reports them as they stand.
The Conditions the Scholars Name
The verse that permits marrying up to four wives is Qur’an 4:3, in Surah an-Nisa. It stands quoted, with its explanations, on this site’s page Polygyny in Islam, and is not repeated here. Shaykh Ibn Baz was asked about the verse in Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women, Question 165, “Concerning Polygyny.” Some people had claimed that marrying more than one wife is allowed only for a man who has orphans under his care. He answered that the claim is false, explained the verse, and then named what a man must meet before he marries more than one:
However, one must meet the condition of justice among the wives and the ability to take care of and tend to the wives. If a person fears that he will not do justice, then he may only marry one wife in addition to having slaves.
Those are the conditions his answer names: justice among the wives, and the ability to take care of them and tend to them. A wife’s permission is not named among them, here or in the other answers gathered on this page. That is the foundation of the answer to the question above: the scholars who permit a man to marry again attach the permission to his justice and his ability, not to his first wife’s consent. What polygyny is, why it is permitted, and its wisdom and benefits are treated on the Polygyny page linked above; this page stays with the permission question. No book used here states this answer in a single sentence; it is gathered from the conditions the scholars name, which are justice between the wives and the ability to care for them.
What the Justice Condition Means
The justice condition raises a question of its own, and Shaykh Ibn Baz was asked it in the very next question, Question 166, “There is No Contradiction in the Verses Regarding Polygyny.” The first verse, Qur’an 4:3, makes justice the condition, while the later verse, Qur’an 4:129, says a man will never be able to do perfect justice between his wives, however much he desires it. If the condition can never be met, does that mean the first verse is set aside and more than one wife is not allowed after all? His answer:
There is no contradiction between the two verses. There is also no abrogation by one verse of the other. The justice that is mentioned in the first verse is the justice within one’s ability, which is related to being fair in division of time and maintenance. As for being just with respect to love and sexual relations, this is not within one’s ability.
This is what is being referred to in the verse, “You will never be able to do perfect justice between your wives even if it is your ardent desire” (al-Nisa 129).
So the condition that governs a second marriage is a real and heavy one, but it is measured by what a man can control: an equal division of his time and his maintenance between his wives. What he cannot control, the movements of his heart, is not what the condition demands of him. The duty the books lay on the husband who marries again is this justice, and it is toward both wives alike.
The One Route That Binds Him: A Condition Set Beforehand
There is one way a wife’s word does bind her husband, and it is set before the marriage, not after it: a stipulation, a condition written into her marriage contract that he accepts. Shaykh Ibn Baz was asked about it in Question 161 of the same collection, “The Condition that Has the Most Right to be Fulfilled.” The example in that question was a wife who stipulated that her husband would not prevent her from teaching, and he agreed. The principle his answer states is general, and it covers any condition of that kind:
If the woman stipulates to her fiance that he will not prevent her from teaching or from studying and he accepts that stipulation, such a stipulation is sound and he cannot prevent her from that after he has conjugated the marriage. This is because the Prophet (ﷺ) has said,
“The conditions that have the most right to be fulfilled are those that make sexual intercourse lawful [i.e., those of the marriage contract].”
This was recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim. If he then prevents her from teaching, she has the option to stay with him or to seek a separation from the Shariah judge.
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen grounds the same ruling in his Book of Marriage, explaining the Prophet’s ﷺ words on the conditions of the marriage contract. Business conditions bind a man, he says, and marriage conditions bind him more:
They are the most deserving conditions because conditions in a marriage make private parts lawful. Whereas, the conditions in a business transaction make a commodity lawful. Making private parts lawful is more dangerous than business deals. So, the conditions in marriage are most deserving to be fulfilled.
In the same explanation he divides the conditions people stipulate into kinds: conditions that are part of the contract itself, conditions that go against the contract, which are prohibited and not to be fulfilled, and beneficial conditions that no evidence prohibits, which stand. His examples of the standing kind, in his summary, include a wife stipulating that she stay in her own house or her own country, and that her husband accompany her on Hajj [the pilgrimage to Makkah]. The named example that touches this page’s question directly, a wife stipulating that her husband not take another wife, is stated on this site’s Polygyny in Islam page, from Shaykh al-Fawzan’s explanation as presented on abukhadeejah.com, and is not repeated here. The doctrine that would make such an accepted condition binding is what the two passages above establish: a condition she set beforehand, and he accepted, is sound, he may not go against it afterward, and if he breaks it she has the choice of staying or seeking separation.
References
Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women, compiled by Muhammad bin Abdul-Aziz al-Musnad: Darussalam, First Edition, 1996, translated by Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo (Question 161, printed pp. 173-174; Question 165, printed p. 178; Question 166, printed pp. 179-180; all three answered by Shaykh Ibn Baz).
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen, The Book of Marriage (from the Explanation of Bulugh al-Maram), Part 1: Maktabatulirshad Publications USA, First Edition, February 2017, translated by Mustafa Lamei ‘Abdul Hakim al-Misri (the conditions of the marriage contract, printed pp. 237-239).
Further Reading
- Polygyny in Islam: what polygyny is and why it is permitted, Qur’an 4:3 and its explanations, and the stipulation example named there.
- What Are the Rights of Women in Marriage?: the doorway to a wife’s rights, including the fairness bound on a husband who takes another wife.
- How Do You Choose a Righteous Spouse in Islam?: choosing a spouse, and a wife’s attitude when her husband wishes to marry again.
- The Conditions of a Valid Marriage (Nikah): what makes a marriage contract valid, including the bride’s consent and her guardian’s permission.
- The Woman’s Right to Khula’: how a wife who cannot remain in a marriage seeks release from it.
Verified on 2026-10-24 against the books listed above.