A husband is not entitled to force wives to share a single house
Fatwa No: 264520

Question

Salam sir i have two wives. my first wife lives in her brothers' house and my second wife has left me 6 months ago due to a private problem, leaving me hurt and depressed because i truly deeply loved her & even sacrificed many things for her. i had met her at my workplace and because of my falling in love with her my wife took my sons & went to her father's house and left me alone when she found out that i had fallen in love with my work colleague. after some months i became lonely and proposed to the woman. when i married the second time my first wife returned but i refused to let her back into my life and also bcoz her family was creating fitnah at the time and demanding that i provide a separate house for her even though they knew that expenses of 2 households woud be dificult for me . now i regret my treatment of my first wife...can i take her back? what if she and her family dont agree..i feel completely alone

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and messenger.

If you have not divorced your first wife irrevocably, you are entitled to return her to your house and she and her family have no right to object to that or refuse that she goes back to your house as long as you fulfill your duties toward her and do not harm her.

It should be noted that your wife has a right over you that you provide her with a suitable and separate accommodation, and you have no right to force her to live with your other wife or anyone else.

For more benefit, kindly refer to Fataawa 86818, 89825 and 84608.

Allaah Knows best.

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