Nowadays, majority of husbands have a single wife with the exception of some. In this situation, how can a woman be asked to tolerate her husband’s second marriage. Isn’t it a responsibility of the husband to inform her prior to the marriage of him entering into another marriage so that she can choose to marry him or not?
Answer:
Though
it is not a precondition for the validity of the nikaah with the second wife
that the husband informs his first wife of the nikaah, however we totally
discourage secret nikaahs as this leads to creating suspicion in the minds of
people regarding the man and woman whose nikaah has not been publicized as well
as a lot of confusion and complications in many masaail i.e. the husband not
being able to maintain equality between the wives in regard to their night
turns, wealth and other aspects, laws of inheritance in the case of death, etc.
And Allah Ta’ala (الله تعالى) knows best.