A man, who is married to two wives, is proposing to another lady as his third wife. However this third lady does not want him, but her parents are forcing her, almost threatening her. My question is: Is this allowed in Islam? How will the marriage be regarded if she gives in to the parental pressures?

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.

It is not permissible for a guardian or anyone else to oblige a virgin, adult, sane woman to marry a man that she does not like, according to the most preponderant opinion of the scholars . The same thing applies to an adult non-virgin woman as the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam , said: "A Thayyib (divorced or widowed woman) and a virgin may not be married off except with her consent." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim] So this woman can refuse to marry whom she does not like. If marriage takes place without her consent, then its validity depends on her accepting it or not. If she accepts it, it is considered valid, and if she does not, then it is void. As for a virgin woman who is young, then it is permissible for her guardian to oblige her to marry. Some scholars stated that there is a consensus among the scholars on this. Also, some scholars said that it is also permissible for a guardian to oblige a non-virgin to marry if she is young.    

Finally, our advice is that if this woman is an adult and this man who has proposed to her is a suitable and competent man, then in this case her guardian should advise her and clarify to her that it might be that her marriage to this man is good for her. Also, we advise this woman to be kind to her parents as much as possible and accept to marry this man if she does not fear any harm.

Allaah Knows best.