Suffering as a second wife

1-7-2004 | IslamWeb

Question:

I am the second wife of my husband. My parents opposed this; as a result they have disowned me and have given him severe hardship to the extent that they reported to the police a case of kidnapping me. I was 29 years of age then. I just want to know is it wrong what I have done? My husband treats his first wife really nice, though his first wife is unaware of me. I sometimes get really upset because my husband and I were forced to leave his business and money and travel to UK from Pakistan.

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Answer:

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.

We draw the attention of the questioner to the fact that it is unlawful for the woman to marry herself without the permission of her wali (guardian). If she does so, that marriage is nul and void. So, she should separate from the man she married without the permission of her wali (guardian). The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "Any woman who marries herself without the consent of her wali, her marriage is invalid, her marriage is invalid. Now if this man has intercourse with her, then she has the right to take the Mahr (bridal money) in exchange to what he made lawful for himself from her vagina." (Ahmed).  So, having a wali is a pre-condition for the validity for the marriage unless the woman is Muslim and her father is non-Muslim.

In this case, her non-Muslim father or brothers lose their guardianship. So if your marriage was established as you described, you should separate immediately from this man and repent to Allah, The Almighty.

Allah knows best.