How can several wives live together without conflict when real love is involved?

A marriage with several wives is only possible when there is peace and justice in the home. If that peace is missing, every wife in Islam has the right to ask for a divorce, and it must be granted to her.

The question is a fair one. Where there is real love, jealousy is never far away. That is why Islam says clearly that a marriage with several wives can only succeed when there is peace in the home. Without this harmony it is not what Islam intends.

Marriage to several wives is not an invention of Islam either. The Bible already tells of prophets and kings who had many wives. Anyone asking this question can therefore put it to their own scriptures as well.

Islam did not forbid this form of marriage, but it bound it to strict conditions. The first verse above demands justice, and whoever fears they cannot be just is to marry only one wife. The second verse openly admits that a perfect balance of feelings is hardly possible. But it forbids turning wholly to one wife and leaving another in uncertainty.

The hadith above shows how to deal with jealousy. When one wife, out of jealousy, broke a bowl that another had sent, there was no anger and no public shaming. The damage was put right calmly and fairly. This is how peace is built in a home.

If this peace cannot be achieved, no woman has to stay in such a marriage. The third verse above shows that a woman can free herself from a marriage when living well together is no longer possible. In Islam every wife has the right to ask for a divorce, and it will be granted to her. So no one is forced to live in discord.