The debate is almost always held on the principle. Sheikh Abd ar-Razzaq al-Badr instead treats the condition, and that is where the real fate of wives is decided.
The verse
He starts from the verse of Surah an-Nisa whose meaning is: you will never be able to treat your wives with perfect equality, even if you wished to, so do not incline wholly to one, leaving the other as though suspended.
The verse therefore states two things at once, and one is often quoted without the other.
It first acknowledges an impossibility: perfect equality is not attainable, including for someone who sincerely wants it. That refers to what the heart does not command.
Then it sets a prohibition: do not incline wholly. What is forbidden is not inequality of feeling, it is the total tipping that leaves the other abandoned.
What the sheikh describes
Sheikh al-Badr states the obligation simply: a man with several wives must be just in how he treats them, equitable, without the slightest wrong, and must not favour one at the expense of another.
Then he describes the situation of the neglected wife, and that description is the heart of the text.
She no longer has any stability, as though suspended between heaven and earth. She finds neither peace, nor rest, nor happiness, because she is neglected without being divorced. She therefore cannot seek another husband who would treat her well, and she is not treated as a real wife either: she remains stuck between marriage and divorce.
Why this description matters
Because it names the exact trap. A neglected wife is not merely unhappy: she is immobilised. The bond that deprives her of everything is the same one that prevents her from seeking another.
The sheikh concludes that this is an injustice against the woman, which Islam came to forbid and warn against.
What this implies in practice
The equity required bears on what can be decided: time, maintenance, housing, presence. It does not bear on the inclination of the heart, which the verse itself declares out of reach.
In other words, a man who cannot provide the material share and the time owed to each is not in the situation the verse envisages. The condition is not a formality, it is the condition.
A note on the process
On Nikah, marital status appears on the profile and the information is given up front, not discovered mid-exchange. It is a question that belongs in the mouqabalah, alongside financial and family commitments, as we set out in our article on its framework.