Can I marry an Egyptian man who remarried his ex-wife?

Question

My fiance is Egyptian. He went back to Egypt last July 25th. Before he left, we decided to get married after he would return to UAE. He was divorced before but he returned to his ex-wife, can we still get married? I am Filipino.

Answer 1

As is this question needs some additional information:

In first place the necessary information is about you as I assume that your fiancé is a Muslim, else it would be pointless asking this on a Q&A-Site about Islam:

• What is your faith and what is you position about him re-marrying his former wife or of a married life in polygny?

  Shortly speaking:

  • A Muslim man can only marry a Muslim lady and a woman from people of the book (who is chaste).
  • A Muslim man is allowed to have up to four wives at once under some conditions.

• Is the re-Marriage valid at all?

  • This question also might be pointless or rather hypothetical to some extent, as normally a Muslim man couldn't re-marry his former wife if the marriage would be invalid (assuming everything is fine with the community, the correct application of shari'a etc.), but for example if there have been three different talaqs (divorces) before, re-marrying according to shri'a isn't that simple, in this case it is quite possible that this marriage was invalid.

  • An other hypothetical case is if he was married to four ladies by now already, he can't get married again and if he did so this marriage would be void, but from your post this seems to be out of question.

Also note that a wife can add conditions to the marriage contract such as: being the lonely wife (well honestly I've read fatwas allowing husbands not to fulfill this condition, but in such a case the wife is allowed to ask for divorce).

So far the legal status from the shari'a point of view is cleared.

The rest is for you to answer or check:

• Are you ok with the fact that you'll be one of his wives, and not his lonely wife?

• Is his other wife aware that he wants to have a second wife? (This basically is no condition for marriage, but what I'd call "best practice", as in cases of polygyny where the wives are not aware of the husbands other wives problems may arise sooner -when they find it out- or later -when it comes to inheritance-)

• You should also check the legal status in the country you are living at or you might want to stay at.

Answer 2

We have polygyny in Islam, i.e., a man can have multiple wives. In this sense, it's permissible. However...

TL;DR: It's practically complicated, and you need to be aware of the local laws of the place you're getting married and where you intend to live, as it may be illegal or not recognized, which have consequences for enforcing your rights as a wife.

Not all Muslim-majority countries permit marriage of already-married men, and those that permit it do so only under certain conditions (e.g. the husband demonstrates the ability to provide equally for his wives). Many countries don't recognize second wives, which obstructs a second wife from enforcing her rights (e.g., maintenance, equal treatment, inheritance) or her ability to seek khula (divorce).

Polygyny in the UAE is possible according to Wikipedia, but if you intend to move to Egypt or the Philippines (or another country) where it's more restricted, it might result in unexpected complications. It's safest to do your homework on this.

There's also personal complications, e.g. "is his current wife okay with this?", to being a co-wife that should be considered carefully.

---

I'll put aside opinions about whether or not he's a suitable partner, and becoming a co-wife is a good idea. I'm sceptical of the idea that a husband can simply "return to his ex wife"; see e.g. Can a man who is now divorced remarry? or Is it possible to remarry my husband after being divorced years ago?.