I am married and have four children, and I lead a happy and warm marital life. One day, we started receiving phone calls from a strange woman who pretends to know me and she asked to meet me. I refused to meet her, but she visited my wife and offered her a big sum of money if she accepted her as a co-wife. What should I do, given that she keeps bothering us with her phone calls on a daily basis?

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 this woman is of satisfactory religiousness and morals, then there is no harm in marrying her. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “A woman is married for four reasons: her money, her beauty, her noble ancestry and her religiousness. So, be victorious by [marrying] the religious woman – otherwise, your hand will be besmeared with dust i.e. you will be a loser.”  [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

On the other hand, if she is not so, we advise you not to marry her, and you can find that out by asking people about her. In general, marrying this woman or not is your own decision to make; for you are the only one who knows your real abilities and circumstances. Moreover, we advise you to resort to Istikhaarah i.e. guidance-seeking prayer and consult members of your family whom you trust and others who know you well and know your situation. We ask Allaah The Exalted to Facilitate your life for you, Rectify your affairs and Choose for you and for us all that is good.

Allaah Knows best.