How many wives did 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (r.a) have?

**DhulQarNain** · 2nd October 2009

'Ali said: The Prophet gave me a silken dress as a gift and I wore it.
When I saw the signs of anger on his face, I cut it into
pieces and distributed it among my wives."
[Sahih Bukhari vol.3 #784]

If i'm not mistaken, the Prophet once became angry with 'Ali for wanting to marry another woman, since this will cause distress for his daughter Fâtima (r.a)?

Jazâkallâh in advance...

**Sawtul Islam** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by DhulQarNain

'Ali said: The Prophet gave me a silken dress as a gift and I wore it.
When I saw the signs of anger on his face, I cut it into
pieces and distributed it among my wives."
[Sahih Bukhari vol.3 #784]

If i'm not mistaken, the Prophet once became angry with 'Ali for wanting to marry another woman, since this will cause distress for his daughter Fâtima (r.a)?

Jazâkallâh in advance...

The Prophet (saw) said he does not want him to marry the daughter of HIS ENEMY, he did not say that he is not allowed to marry any woman other than Fatimah (Ra).

Althugh it is better not to marry more than one wife, Ali (ra) like other Muslims was allowed to do so.

**Abu Abdallah al-Bulghari** · 2nd October 2009

Althugh it is better not to marry more than one wife

I have never heard of this.

**DhulQarNain** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by Sawtul Islam

The Prophet (saw) said he does not want him to marry the daughter of HIS ENEMY, he did not say that he is not allowed to marry any woman other than Fatimah (Ra).

Althugh it is better not to marry more than one wife, Ali (ra) like other Muslims was allowed to do so.

Jazâkallâh bro!
But did he have more than one wife?
If yes, who?

ma'a-sallaam!

**Sawtul Islam** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by Abu Abdallah al-Bulghari

I have never heard of this.

And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 3)

So if we cant deal justly with them, we should marry ONLY ONE.

Now read this Ayah:

Ye will not be able to deal equally between (your) wives, however much ye wish. But turn not altogether away, leaving her as in suspense. If ye do good and keep from evil, lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 129)

So we CAN NOT deal justly with them.

So Allah tells us if we cant deal justly we should marry one, and then says no matter how much we wish to deal justly with them we CANT.

The obvious conclusion is that we should marry only ONE wife

However if someone marries more than one, then they may be FORGIVEN as stated in the Ayah.

This proves that it is much better to only marry one, and if you marry more than one you will be FORGIVEN if you do good (since you will be forgiven it is obviously not a good thing).

**IbnShaykh** · 2nd October 2009

And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 3)

This refers to treating them equally materially and economically.

Ye will not be able to deal equally between (your) wives, however much ye wish. But turn not altogether away, leaving her as in suspense. If ye do good and keep from evil, lo! Allah is ever Forgiving, Merciful.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 129)

This is refering to the man not being able to treat them equally in terms of love and sexual intercourse. A man cannot be held responsible for his heart and desires.

Thus the first refers to the tangible and treating them equally in what a man can control the other is refering to what is out of a mans power.

**Sawtul Islam** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by IbnShaykh

This is refering to the man not being able to treat them equally in terms of love and sexual intercourse. A man cannot be held responsible for his heart and desires.

Thus the first refers to the tangible and treating them equally in what a man can control the other is refering to what is out of a mans power.

Can you explain how you came to this conclusion?
Where does it say that the first is about economically supporting them and the second is about love or sex?

In fact first Ayah itself says that it is better to marry only one:

And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 3)

And the other Ayah makes it more clear

**IbnShaykh** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by Sawtul Islam

Can you explain how you came to this conclusion?
Where does it say that the first is about economically supporting them and the second is about love or sex?

In fact the very first Ayah says that it is better to marry only one:

And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 3)

According to the mufasireen akhee as this ayah confused me at first however I looked into it.

but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper

The ayah says, if you cannot do justice (that is economically and materially then only marry one). So yes in that context it is better to only marry one but that isn't the general meaning of the ayah, it is a condition however.

And for us to accept your understanding we would have to accept that Allaah, contradicts himself, and that there is sin in something that Allaah has allowed. We also have to accept the prophet saws himself as well as the sahabah were sinful but will be forgiven for it? How can the prophet saws be accused of sin? How can you accuse Ali of sin and say 'but he will be forgiven'?

**Ayman bin Khaled** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by DhulQarNain

'Ali said: The Prophet gave me a silken dress as a gift and I wore it.
When I saw the signs of anger on his face, I cut it into
pieces and distributed it among my wives."
[Sahih Bukhari vol.3 #784]

If i'm not mistaken, the Prophet once became angry with 'Ali for wanting to marry another woman, since this will cause distress for his daughter Fâtima (r.a)?

Jazâkallâh in advance...

This is indeed one of the most distorted translations that I came across since the one who translated it does not know the basics! It is known that Ali only was married to Fatima (رضي الله عنها).

The actual translation is "My women" and they are his wife, his mother and his cousin. Yet, he gave to his wife and advised her to distribute it as al-hafith mentioned.

Wallahu A'lam

**Ayman bin Khaled** · 2nd October 2009

Originally Posted by Sawtul Islam

(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 3)

So if we cant deal justly with them, we should marry ONLY ONE.

Now read this Ayah:

(Qur'an, Surah al-Nisa Ayah 129)

So we CAN NOT deal justly with them.

So Allah tells us if we cant deal justly we should marry one, and then says no matter how much we wish to deal justly with them we CANT.

The obvious conclusion is that we should marry only ONE wife

why did you chose the "should" and not the "MUST"?!

Allah stated "not to marry but one" in a commandment form so on what basis it became should not must?

Your oddness never end indeed when you submit to your own reasoning and analysis to our Relgion which upon you reproduce your own deen.