How can a man know if a woman will be a loving and fertile wife before marriage?

 

 

It says in the hadeeth: “Marry women who are loving and fertile…” but how can a man know if a woman is loving and fertile before marriage?.

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

It was narrated that Ma’qil ibn Yasaar said: A man came to
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
said: “O Messenger of Allaah, I have found a woman who is from a good family
and is beautiful, but she does not bear children; should I marry her?” He
told him not to. Then he came to him a second time and said something
similar and he told him not to marry her. Then he came to him a third time
and said something similar and he (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “Marry the one who is loving and fertile, for I will be
proud of your great numbers.” 

Narrated by Abu Dawood, 2050; al-Nasaa’i, 3227; classed as
saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani (may Allaah have mercy on him) in Adaab
al-Zafaaf, p. 132. 

There are two ways of knowing whether a woman will be
fertile: 

1 – By looking at her mother and sisters 

2 – If she has been
married before; that will be known from her previous marriage.  

Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeem Abaadi said in ‘Awn al-Ma’bood
(6/33): Marry the one who is loving, means, the one who loves her husband;
and the one who is fertile, is the one who bears a lot of children. 

It may be understood from this that if the one who is fertile
is not loving, it is not recommended to marry her, and if the one who is
loving is not fertile, then the purpose of marriage, which is to increase
the numbers of the ummah by bearing many children, will not be achieved.
These two qualities may be known in the case of virgins from their
relatives, because relatives are usually similar, physically and in
attitude, to one another. 

And Allaah knows best.