Brit entrepreneur creates dating site to help Muslim men find a second wife

UK entrepreneur Azad Chaiwala has created a dating site for Muslim men who are seeking second, third and fourth wives. 

The 33-year-old self-proclaimed ‘serial inventor’ said that he is bringing a much-needed service to the United Kingdom and the world. 

‘I had a hunch that it would be popular. It’s been a runaway success.’ 

His site www.secondwife.com has collected 50,000 registered users since 2014. Most of these members hail from the United Kingdom, followed by Australia and Canada, with moderate take up in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. 

Chaiwala told MySalaam that he noted a gap in the market following his own decade-long search for ‘wife number two’. 

“I realised there was nothing out there to help me make a choice,” he said. 

In the United Kingdom and farther afield, Chaiwala said he has struggled to secure traditional mainstream advertising, so he is now relying on the power of word-of-mouth and media to promote his site. 

The serial entrepreneur said that the number and range of Muslim women who have voluntarily signed up for the polygamous dating site has surprised him.

“Around 30 per cent of our users are female. They come from all walks of life. They are often doctors, teachers, lawyers and accomplished businesswomen.” 

The businessman, who also runs the dating site www.polygamy.com for non-Muslims, insisted that women are drawn to the ‘numerous benefits’ of being one of many wives. 

Chaiwala said his company has conducted research into British sexual habits and found that women go through a minimum of eight partners before settling down and men clock up 13 partners.

He explained: "It comes down to commitment: women are sick of being cheated on; women are sick of inferior men who are ready to exploit them for their own sexual gratification; they are tired of men who deceitfully use prostitutes and pornography or have one-night stands and attend strip clubs.”  

Chaiwala has his own views on polygamy.

“These polygamous men want to honour their wives; they want to be fathers and husbands, and they are forever present. They will provide financially and emotionally. Every resource of theirs will be shared with women. They are being honest. 

There comes an age when women have a small brood of their own that life becomes tiring; they prefer to nurture their children rather than having a lover.  

They do not mind knowing that there is another lady taking care of their husband. They like time to themselves. The numbers on my website speak for themselves.”

To become a member of secondwife.com, visitors first click on a verse from the Quran: “Then marry women of your choice, two or three, or four, but if you fear that you will not be able to deal justly, then only one.”

In the United Kingdom, polygamous relationships can be cemented through a nikah but Islamic law is currently not legally acknowledged in the country. However, Chaiwala insisted that polygamy will eventually be made legal in the United Kingdom. ‘Everything about polygamy is out in the open. The wives know about each other; the families know all the wives.’

“We are far from being an Ashley Madison dating site,” he added, referring to the Canadian dating website that targets people who are already married or in a committed relationship, and which drew attention when hackers leaked information concerning thousands of customers in 2015.

“Ashley Madison is deviant and everything is about urging you to have an affair. The men are not honourable and honest. They don’t set a limit on the number of women you can have. They’re doing it in the darkness and they’re betraying somebody. Secondwife.com wants marriages to be celebrated, wholesome and honest.”

However, a registrar at The Muslim Law Shariah Council UK Mohammad Raza warned that women entering a polygamous relationship are waiving financial rights usually attached to a marriage.

“We never encourage polygamy in this country (UK) because all wives apart from the first wife will be entitled to nothing. If a wife agrees to this arrangement in the UK she is putting herself at financial risk. Of course, in a Muslim country that operates under Shariah law all the wives would have equal rights. But a second wife in the UK undertakes this position at her own risk."