Husband May Stay with Sick Wife and Make up for Overnight Stays to Other Wife Once She Recovers

5-12-2020 | IslamWeb

Question:

I was married and divorced and having a child in that relation.again I'm married to a divorcee and a father of two.after 2 years of marriage my husband tookback his first wife for the well-being of his children. After that I am mentally depressed and under medication.sometimes I become violent.he stay with his two wives alternatively.but some days I am mentally deceased and I ask him to be with me in those days.but his wife do not allow him to be with me.there is no one to take care of my children in such days.my younger one is only 11 days old.can i ask my husband to be with me in such situations.is it allowed in Islam for my husband to be with me in such situations.or under any circumstances he should be there with two wives alternatively.

---

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Jurists stated that if a woman is sick and in need of care and there is fear for her safety, she has the right to have her husband stay with her in this case. The Shaafi‘i scholar Shaykhul-Islam Zakariyya Al-Ansaari said in Asna Al-Mataalib: “If she fell sick or went into labor and has no one to take care of her, then he may nurse her in the first case (sickness) and stay overnight with her in the second case (labor) for as many nights as needed provided that he makes up for his other wives when she recovers.” [End of quote]

Thus, you come to know that you have the right to request that your husband stays with you if there is a need for that, and he has the right to spend the night with you even if his other wife does not approve provided that he makes up for those overnight stays for his other wife after the excuse ends. This is what is required by the enjoined justice and fulfillment of the rights of one’s wives over him.

Allah Knows best.