Divorcing One’s Wife at the Mother’s Command

Question

Zayd is a member of a good family, but for a long time he has been learning singing and music and listens to songs on the radio. He is married and the father of five children; Zayd has no livelihood. Zayd has secretly contracted a second marriage with a woman who is not his equal (not kuf’). In view of the family circumstances described above, there appears to be no hope of getting along with the second wife and living together. Zayd’s mother is greatly distressed by this situation.

Answer

Is Zayd so dutiful that he will give his second wife talaq at the command of his aged mother? If so, why has his mother not given him the Shari‘a ruling up to now regarding the circumstances mentioned at the beginning of the letter (singing and so on)?

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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