Nigerian advises against 86 wives
Nigerian advises against 86 wives
By Andrew Walker
BBC News, Bida, Nigeria
Baba Mohammed Bello Abubakar
Mr Bello Abubakar says he does not go and find women, they come to him
Nigerian Mohammed Bello Abubakar, 84, has advised other men not to follow his example and marry 86 women.
The former teacher and Muslim preacher, who lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children, says he is able to cope only with the help of God.
"A man with 10 wives would collapse and die, but my own power is given by Allah. That is why I have been able to control 86 of them," he told the BBC.
He says his wives have sought him out because of his reputation as a healer.
"I don't go looking for them, they come to me. I will consider the fact that God has asked me to do it and I will just marry them."
But such claims have alienated the Islamic authorities in Nigeria, who have branded his family a cult.
Ganiat Bello Abubakar
When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them
Wife Ganiat Bello Abubakar
Most Muslim scholars agree that a man is allowed to have four wives, as long as he can treat them equally.
But Mr Bello Abubakar says there is no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives.
"To my understanding the Koran does not place a limit and it is up to what your own power, your own endowment and ability allows," he says.
"God did not say what the punishment should be for a man who has more than four wives, but he was specific about the punishment for fornication and adultery."
'Order from God'
As Mr Bello Abubakar emerged from his compound to speak to the BBC, his wives and children broke out into a praise song.
Mohammed Bello Abubakar of Bida and some of his wives
Some of Mr Bello Abubakar's wives are younger than some of his children
Most of his wives are less than a quarter of his age - and many are younger than some of his own children.
The wives the BBC spoke to say they met Mr Bello Abubakar when they went to him to seek help for various illnesses, which they say he cured.
"As soon as I met him the headache was gone," says Sharifat Bello Abubakar, who was 25 at the time and Mr Bello Abubakar 74.
"God told me it was time to be his wife. Praise be to God I am his wife now."
Ganiat Mohammed Bello has been married to the man everyone calls "Baba" for 20 years.
When she was in secondary school her mother took her for a consultation with Mr Bello Abubakar and he proposed afterwards.
"I said I couldn't marry an older man, but he said it was directly an order from God," she says.
She married another man but they divorced and she returned to Mr Bello Abubakar.
"I am now the happiest woman on earth. When you marry a man with 86 wives you know he knows how to look after them," she said.
No work
Mr Bello Abubakar and his wives do not work and he has no visible means of supporting such a large family.
Inside "Baba's" house
Many of the wives live three to a room, some have seven children
He refuses to say how he makes enough money to pay for the huge cost of feeding and clothing so many people.
Every mealtime they cook three 12kg bags of rice which all adds up to $915 (£457) every day.
"It's all from God," he says.
Other residents of Bida, the village where he lives in the northern Nigerian state, say they do not know how he supports the family.
According to one of his wives, Mr Bello Abubakar sometimes asks his children to go and beg for 200 naira ($1.69, £0.87), which if they all did so would bring in about $290 (£149).
Most of his wives live in a squalid, unfinished house in Bida; others live in his house in Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital.
He refuses to allow any of his family or other devotees to take medicine and says he does not believe that malaria exists.
Hafsat Bello Abubakar
They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come
Wife Hafsat Bello Abubakar
"As you sit here if you have any illness I can see it and just remove it," he says.
But not everyone can be cured and one of his wives, Hafsat Bello Mohammed, says two of her children have died.
"They were sick and we told God and God said their time has come."
She says that most of the wives see Mr Bello Abubakar as next in line from the Prophet Muhammad.
Indeed, he claims the Prophet Muhammad speaks to him personally and gives detailed descriptions of his experiences.
It is a serious claim for a Muslim to make.
"This is heresy, he is a heretic," says Ustaz Abubakar Siddique, an imam of Abuja's Central Mosque.
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
That's more wives than years he's been alive...
Maybe he REALLY enjoys weddings.
2∞&➔
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
*Roffles*
I just noticed he's from a village called 'Bida'. Do you think they're trying to tell him something?
2∞&➔
19 August 2007
9 hours 8 min
I read the title of this post and thought: "Well, duh!"
This guy needs to stop taking advantage of these women and polygamy. Quran says four MAXIMUM! If a girl rejects you then get over it!
Can't believe it took him to become 84 to know that it was a mistake.
Chin up, mate! Life's too short.
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
In which particular verse?
2∞&➔
19 August 2007
9 hours 8 min
Marry 2, 3 or 4. But if you can't treat them equally then just marry the 1. Something along those lines, in Sura Nisa.
Chin up, mate! Life's too short.
11 May 2006
12 hours 2 min
7 January 2006
2 days 13 hours
Islam allows a man to marry only 4 women. Shia Muslims are allowed to marry as women as they like as long as the marriage is temporary and not permant. It is called Muta Marriage. It was allowed by the Holy Prophet Muhammad
and his Companions were happy to marry women for a short time only.
Ayatullah Khomeini rightly declared America as the Greatest Satan. www.tehrantimes.com
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
What is the reason people have these marriages?
It seems to many that it is just a way to make sex halal without the added responsibility of looking after the wife or supporting her. As a Shia, what is your view on this?
2∞&➔
7 January 2006
2 days 13 hours
I believe in and love the Prophet
.
and so it must be halal for Muslims. Prophet's Companions (RA) did it, so why not us? I have done it a few times myself. Sunni as well as Shia girls. Its even allowed with Christians and Jews. Its a blessing that Islam protects us from Zina. You don't feel guilty if you enjoy anything according to what Prophet 
told us.
Whatever he made halal is halal. Whatever he made haraam is haraam.
If Muta Marriage is halal in sight of the Prophet
Ayatullah Khomeini rightly declared America as the Greatest Satan. www.tehrantimes.com
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
So basically what your saying is you married those women for sex?
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
Narrated Saburah ibn Ma'bad al-Juhani: "The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) prohibited temporary marriage with women. (Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Book 11, Number 2068)"
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
31 March 2008
2 hours 2 min
so does that mean you have to have 4 women at a time, ie. one of the 4 have to either pass away or you divorce her, before you could marry another to sustain the pattern of 4 wives?
you say it as tho there's a women cloning factory on earth, i don't get it, where does then Islam give Women's rights and diginity??... ah well, its not MARRIAGE its MUTA marriage!
Infinite number of square waves make up a sine wave
31 March 2008
2 hours 2 min
woops
Infinite number of square waves make up a sine wave
10 October 2005
13 hours 43 min
@Malik ask yourself this if the Prophet (p.b.u.h.)approved of such marriages then why didnt he himself participate in them? I think your getting confused. Such marriages might have existed once upon a time but well before Islam was sent down by Allah(swt).
No not the gum drop buttons! – Gingy
7 January 2006
2 days 13 hours
I think you need to read some books of Ahadith Brother Naz. Muta Marriage was not only allowed before Islam. Our Prophet Muhammad
also allowed it. How can you say Muta Marriages were practised before Allah sent down Islam as a religion. Prophet is Islam. He said to his companions go ahead and do Muta Marriage with women. Don't you get it? This is Islam. Whatever Prophet 
allows his companions is within Sharia. How can you say this is not Islam? Companions did it in front of him and he said this is acceptable. If you dont find it acceptable then this is your problem. Islam has no problem with marrying a woman for a day or two and then divorcing her. She is not forced into this you know. She has to give consent to be married within the Muta Marriage.
Ayatullah Khomeini rightly declared America as the Greatest Satan. www.tehrantimes.com
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
The Prophet
also allowed drinking alcohol at the beginning of his mission, which was later forbidden. Are you going to drink alcohol too?
Malik, the Qur'an was revealed over a long period of time, and different rulings came at different times. When the first sahaba converted to Islam, they weren't expected to give up everything immediately from their earlier lives of jahaliyyah. This happened gradually.
Same with slavery, it wasn't forbidden in the Qur'an, and if it had been the primitive arab society would have fallen apart. But it is quite clear that it should be cut down slowly over time (one of the best deeds you can do is freeing a slave etc).
But you have admitted that the only reason you do this is to fulfil sexual urges. This is why people get married *permanently*. The only difference is that a permanent marriage also comes with big responsibilities for both husband and wife, while a Muta marriage is just "Wham! Bam! Thank you ma'am!"
2∞&➔
7 January 2006
2 days 13 hours
But some companion disageed whether he had banned it or not. Some continued to do Muta Marriage. We Shia Muslims believe that Prophet
never forbade it. That is why it is still practised in Iran where Shia Muslims are the majority. Many Sunni Muslims in Egypt and other Arab countries also take this view and they agree with their Shia brothers that Muta Marriage is allowed in Islam. These type of Arabs also continue to practise this contract marriage.
Ayatullah Khomeini rightly declared America as the Greatest Satan. www.tehrantimes.com
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
There is no point trying to convince malik that muta marriage is haram. Most Shia insults the companions of the prophet SAW anyway, and they do not use/accept the commonly accepted books of hadith (Bukhari, Muslim, Nasaai, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud) accepted by majority of the muslims.
For majority of the muslims it is accepted that mutah marriage is haram based on hadith quoted below.
Remember Quran was revealed in 23 years initially alcohol was not considered haram and later on it was condemmed. It is the same with muta marriage it was allowed then condemed as supported with the hadith quoted below.
And Allah said If you love Allah follow his messenger and he will forgive you (Quran ayah out of the top of my head)
if the evidence quoted below is not sufficient (La kum deenukum wa liyadeen) unto you be your religion and unto me be mine.
Brother follow the evidences not the scholars.
Narrated Saburah ibn Ma'bad al-Juhani: "The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) prohibited temporary marriage with women. (Translation of Sunan Abu-Dawud, Marriage (Kitab Al-Nikah), Book 11, Number 2068)"
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
lol!
...and then you try to convince him anyway.
Follow your own advice!
2∞&➔
10 October 2005
13 hours 44 min
Evidence please.
Allah(swt) dislikes divorce. Evidence to prove my statement
The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Among lawful things, divorce is most hated by Allah" (Reported by Abu Dawud)
Ppl dont forget shias are still Muslims so lets not get personal about it.
No not the gum drop buttons! – Gingy
yep
my bad i guess i got carried away
28 October 2005
1 hour 43 min
i posted this like three times and nobodies paid attention to it, at least somebody did.
Indeed Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet; O People who Believe! Send blessings and abundant salutations upon him. Al ahzab [33,56]
31 March 2008
2 hours 2 min
its like Christians belief is that Jesus AS were a Jew, but began Christianity... BUT BUT BUT... Prphet Muhammed
were Muslim and Started what we know today as Islam.
so I don't know where Malik bro gets his back up
Infinite number of square waves make up a sine wave
25 May 2008
2 days 5 hours
Basically
surprise surprise
guys are in favour of temp marriages because they can use and abuse the system
thats it
its all about sex
in the name of marriage
how pretentious
n I cant see how any guy would know how to treat all his wives equally
21 November 2006
9 hours 18 min
'guys' are in favour?
ONE person is in favour, and the user name is Malik. That could easily be a guy or a girl's surname.
2∞&➔
31 March 2008
2 hours 2 min
legalising sexual inetrcourse in a modern age through temporary marriage... A modernist view but genious and not very effective but is it halal? i mean you're still 'marrying'...
Infinite number of square waves make up a sine wave
24 June 2005
1 hour 53 min
This is not some thing "new", but something "old".
As for the guy saying there is no punishment for marrying more than 4, that may be the case (I am not a scholar), but there is a punishment for adultery. I would expect any extra wives past the permitted limit would not be recognised and his conjugal relations with hem would probably be considered as adultery.
Again, I am not a scholar and this is just using logic, which may or may not be flawed.
It’s a brand new day
And the sun is high
All the birds are singing
That you’re gonna die