Describing a woman for the husband to marry her

14-1-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

My husband wants to marry another woman and asks me about the characteristics of some women whom he wants to marry to compare them before seeing them. Is it permissible for me to obey him and describe these women? Would I be committing a sin if I refused to describe them because of disobeying him? It should be known that for now I refrain from describing these women because of my innate jealousy. I do not know Sharee‘ah ruling in this regard. Please advise. May Allaah Reward you.

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

It is permissible for you to describe that woman for your husband to know if she is a suitable wife or not, as this is considered a valid reason under Sharee‘ah to describe a woman to one’s husband. The Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, sent Umm Sulaym to look at a woman he wanted to know the characteristics of in order to marry her, saying to her “Smell her mouth (front teeth) and look at the back of her ankles.” [Ahmad; Al-Arnaa’oot: Hasan]

However, it is not obligatory upon you to obey him concerning this for the experienced difficulty and hardship subsequent to this, as you implied in your question.

Allaah Knows best.