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The question

Is a husband obligated to divorce his second wife before consummating the marriage, in order to please his parents and out of fear of his first wife perishing?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

Marrying more than one woman is permissible in Islamic law. The son is not obligated to obey his parents by divorcing his second wife merely due to a whim or non-religious animosity. Ahmad explicitly stated this, and Ibn Taymiyyah forbade it based on the generality of the hadith: "The most detestable of permissible things to Allah is divorce." It is not permissible for a wife to request the divorce of her co-wife, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade that. We advise the questioner to keep his second wife and strive to mend the relationship between her and his parents, as well as his first wife.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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