Can You Advise if Our Prophet Mohammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) Advised Men who Married His Daughter Not to Marry Other Women While Being Married to His Daughters?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I would like to ask if you are familiar with the below statement and if this is an authentic statement, and what the reference is, as I have heard this going around recently:
When Fatima (Allah be pleased with her) was reciting the Quran when a verse about men being allowed to have 4 wives came up, she suddenly lowered her voice so Ali (Allah be pleased with him) wouldn’t hear.
Ali (Allah be pleased with him) smiled and said, “You alone are equal to all of them.”
Can you also please advise if Our Prophet Mohammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) advised the men who married his daughters not to marry other women while being married to his daughters?
Jazakallah in advance
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
I could not find the reference to this quote, apart from being quoted by many on social media:
‘When Fatima (Allah be pleased with her) was reciting the Quran when a verse about men being allowed to have four wives came up. She suddenly lowered her voice so Ali (Allah be pleased with him) wouldn’t hear.
Ali (Allah be pleased with him) smiled and said, “You alone are equal to all of them.”’
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) Not Allowing Ali (Allah be pleased with him) Another Wife
Miswar ibn Makhrama narrates that ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib proposed marriage to the daughter of Abu Jahl when he was already married to Fatima, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).
When Fatima heard about that, she went to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and said to him: Your people are saying that you do not get angry for the sake of your daughters, and ‘Ali is going to marry the daughter of Abu Jahl.
Miswar said: The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) stood up, and I heard him when he bore witness, then he said: “I gave a daughter of mine in marriage to Abu’l-‘As ibn Rabi‘ (who married Zaynab, the prophet’s other daughter); when he spoke, he told me the truth and when he made me a promise he fulfilled his promise. Fatima is a part of me, and whatever hurts her hurts me. By Allah, the daughter of the Messenger of Allah and the daughter of the enemy of Allah will not be joined together as wives of one man.”
So ‘Ali abandoned that proposal. [Bukhari; Muslim]
Number of Reasons
According to another version: “She is a part of me; what disturbs her disturbs me, and what hurts her hurts me.” [Bukhari; Muslim]
This incident occurred after the conquest of Makkah, at which time none of the daughters of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) were still alive except her; after losing her mother, she had lost her sisters, and giving her cause to become jealous would have exacerbated her grief.
Imam Nawawi said that because that would have led to hurting Fatima, in that case, it would have hurt the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) too, and the one who hurts him is ruined. For that reason, he forbade him to do that out of compassion toward ‘Ali and Fatima.
[Nawawi, Sharh Sahih Muslim]
Hafiz Ibn Hajar said: The context indicates that it was permissible for ‘Ali, but the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) disallowed it out of care for Fatima’s feelings, and ‘Ali accepted it out of obedience to the instructions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). Thus, it seems to me that it is not far-fetched to suggest that one of the unique characteristics of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was that his sons-in-law were not to marry other wives when they were married to his daughters. Or it may be that this is something that applied only to Fatima (Allah be pleased with her).
[Ibn Hajar, Fath al-Bari]
However, what is mentioned above does not apply to any woman other than Fatima and the Prophet’s other daughters (Allah be pleased with them all).
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Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
