Is it permissible to stipulate the prevention of marrying more than one woman, and to particularize Allah’s saying: “Then marry what is good for you of women” (Quran 4:3) by arguing that it is permissible and that the permissible may be restricted, and is it permissible to restrict the permissible by analogy with the fact that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, forbade marrying women from the People of the Book?

If the wife stipulates at the time of marriage that her husband must not marry another woman, then this condition must be fulfilled. She has the right to annul the marriage if he marries another. As for issuing a law that prohibits polygyny, this is forbidding what Allah has permitted and is impermissible, because the Quran allowed polygyny for multiple benefits for the man, the woman, and the Ummah. Limiting the number of wives to four is a wise limit, a moderate number between too few and too many. It is not permissible to restrict what is permissible except with evidence. The action of Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, does not serve as evidence for prohibiting marriage to Kitābiyyahs (women of the Book); rather, it was a guidance regarding potential harms that might result from it.