🤝 Existing wife & prospective wife · #52
May a first wife ask her husband to divorce his second wife?
The Prophet ﷺ forbade a woman to ask for her sister's (co-wife's) divorce to take her place; if the first wife cannot bear living with a co-wife, her right is to seek a solution for herself, not another woman's divorce.
Abu Hurayra r.a. narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: it is not lawful for a woman to ask for her sister's divorce in order to empty her vessel, for she will have what has been decreed for her (Sahih al-Bukhari 5152). The prohibition applies to both wives. A first wife who truly cannot cope may talk to her husband, seek counselling, claim fair turns and maintenance in court, or seek divorce for herself through taʿliq, fasakh or khulʿ as the case may be. Pressing a husband to divorce a co-wife often ends in injustice to an innocent woman and her children. See the question on a wife seeking divorce.
Abu Hurayra r.a. narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: it is not lawful for a woman to ask for her sister's divorce in order to empty her vessel, for she will have what has been decreed for her (Sahih al-Bukhari 5152). The prohibition applies to both wives. A first wife who truly cannot cope may talk to her husband, seek counselling, claim fair turns and maintenance in court, or seek divorce for herself through taʿliq, fasakh or khulʿ as the case may be. Pressing a husband to divorce a co-wife often ends in injustice to an innocent woman and her children. See the question on a wife seeking divorce.
Sources
Sahih al-Bukhari 5152Surah an-Nisa' 4:128Surah an-Nisa' 4:32