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Marrying two sisters

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Marrying two sisters (Arabic: الزواج من الأختين), simultaneously (having two sisters as wives of one man at the same time) is forbidden in Islam.[1] The jurists' evidence for prohibiting such a marriage is Quran 4:23, as well as narrations[2] that explicitly state the prohibition of both permanent and temporary marriage to two sisters at the same time.[3] Accordingly, if a man divorces his wife, or relinquishes her the remainder of the agreed term in a temporary marriage, after the completion of her waiting period ('idda), marrying the sister of his former wife will be permissible.[4]

According to jurists, the sisterly relationship in this ruling includes paternal sisters, maternal sisters, and also milk-sisters (through breastfeeding).[5] Some Shi'a jurists also hold that if the marriage contract for two sisters is recited simultaneously, both marriages are invalid.[6] Additionally, if one marriage contract follows another, the second contract will be invalid.[7] According to Jawadi Amuli, a Shi'a jurist, if someone knows that this act is forbidden and still commits it, in addition to the invalidity of the marriage contract, he has also committed a sin.[8]

Based on Shi'a narrations, this act has been prohibited by the Imams (a); in the book Wasa'il al-Shi'a, twenty-three narrations have been recorded regarding the ruling on marrying one's wife's sister.[9] Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi, citing two of these narrations, believes that sometimes the Imams (a) did not explicitly declare their prohibition due to taqiyya.[10]

Nasir Makarim Shirazi, a Shi'a marja', considers it possible that the reason for the prohibition of simultaneous marriage to two sisters is to prevent conflict and a sense of rivalry between them, thereby ensuring the continuation of the emotional relationship between the sisters.[11] In Quran 4:23, after announcing the prohibition of marrying one's wife's sister, marriages that occurred before the revelation of this verse were exempted.[12] According to commentators such as al-Shaykh al-Tusi in Tafsir al-Tibyan and al-Tabrisi in Majma' al-Bayan, the exemption for past cases refers to the marriage of Prophet Jacob (a) to two sisters named Rachel and Leah.[13]

It is said that before the revelation of this verse, simultaneous marriage to two sisters was common, and after the verse was revealed, those who had previously engaged in such marriages had to immediately separate from one of them. However, they would not face punishment or penalty, and their children would be considered legitimate.[14]

Notes

  1. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, vol. 7, p. 289; Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 29, p. 356; Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Rīyāḍ al-masāʾil, vol. 11, p. 180.
  2. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 20, p. 476-486.
  3. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, vol. 7, p. 289.
  4. ↑ Ṭabāṭabāʾī, Rīyāḍ al-masāʾil, vol. 11, p. 181; Ḥakīm, Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn, vol. 3, p. 27.
  5. ↑ Ḥillī, Qawāʿid al-aḥkām, vol. 3, p. 34; Ruḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq, vol. 21, p. 244.
  6. ↑ Shahīd al-Thānī, al-Rawḍat al-bahiyya, vol. 5, p. 187.
  7. ↑ Sīstānī, Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn, vol. 3, p. 60; Ruḥānī, Fiqh al-Ṣādiq, vol. 21, p. 249.
  8. ↑ Advanced jurisprudence class of Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli (Persian)
  9. ↑ Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa, vol. 20, p. 476-486.
  10. ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 29, p. 356.
  11. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 331.
  12. ↑ Quran 4:23.
  13. ↑ Ṭabrisī, Majmaʿ al-bayān, vol. 3, p. 49; Ṭūsī, al-Tibyān, vol. 3, p. 160.
  14. ↑ Makārim Shīrāzī, Tafsīr-i nimūna, vol. 3, p. 331.

References

  • Ḥakīm, Muḥammad Saʿīd. Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn. 1st edition. Beirut: Dār al-Ṣafwa, 1415 AH.
  • Ḥillī, al-Ḥasan b. Yūsuf al-. Qawāʿid al-aḥkām fī maʿrifat al-aḥalāl wa al-aḥarām. 1st edition. Qom: Jāmiʿa-yi Mudarrisīn, 1413 AH.
  • Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Wasāʾil al-Shīʿa. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt (a), 1409 AH.
  • Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. Tafsīr-i nimūna. 10th edition. Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmiyya, 1371 Sh.
  • Najafī, Muḥammad al-Ḥasan al-. Jawāhir al-kalām fī sharḥ sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. 7th edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, 1404 AH.
  • Ruḥānī, Sayyid Ṣādiq. Fiqh al-Ṣādiq. 1st edition. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb, 1412 AH.
  • Sīstānī, Sayyid ʿAlī. Minhāj al-ṣāliḥīn. Fifth edition. Qom: Intishārāt-i Daftar-i Āyat Allāh Sīstānī, 1417 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī. Al-Rawḍat al-bahiyya fī sharḥ al-lumʿat al-Dimashqiyya. Edited by Muḥammad Kalāntar. 1st edition. Qom: Dāwarī, 1410 AH.
  • Shahīd al-Thānī, Zayn al-Dīn b. ʿAlī. Masālik al-afhām ilā tanqīh sharāyiʿ al-Islām. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmīyya, 1413 AH.
  • Ṭabāṭabāʾī, ʿAlī. Rīyāḍ al-masāʾil fī taḥqīq al-aḥkām bi-dalāʾil. 1st edition. Qom: Muʾassisat Āl al-Bayt (a), 1418 AH.
  • Ṭabrisī, Faḍl b. al-Ḥasan al-. Majmaʿ al-bayān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. Tehran: Naṣir Khusruw, 1372 Sh.
  • Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. al-Ḥasan al-. Al-Tibyān fī tafsīr al-Qurʾān. 1st edition. Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, [n.d].
  • درس خارج فقه آیت الله جوادی (Advanced jurisprudence class of Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli (Persian)). Accessed: 2025/08/21.
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