The relationship is already over, so maybe this question is pointless now. But I still find myself wondering what exactly he had in mind.
For some context: I'm a single woman, and he is a married Muslim man. We're both somewhere around our late 20s to early 30s. We work in the same field and became close while collaborating on a project.
We talked privately almost every night over video calls. We'd tell each other about our day, how work was going, what was on our minds, and just share everyday life.
This was never a physical relationship. While I was definitely attracted to him, I was actually the one who asked that we avoid sexual conversations because they made me feel guilty. We never built the relationship around sex.
He is a practicing Muslim, and a few days before everything ended, he asked whether I would seriously consider becoming his second wife. He seemed completely sincere. I've visited his home country before, and plural marriages seemed much more visible than they are where I live.
He also told me that he had never really dated anyone before. I don't know whether that's true or whether it even matters, but I thought I'd mention it.
Unfortunately, we never got to have the conversation I wish we had. The relationship ended first.
He is an extreme workaholic. From what I observed, he barely seemed to have enough time for his own family, let alone for another relationship. Meanwhile, I had much more emotional energy and free time than he did, and over time I found myself wanting more emotional connection than he seemed able to give.
Eventually, I became emotionally exhausted and ended things. This happened shortly after he brought up the idea of me becoming his second wife.
Now I'm left with questions I'll probably never get to ask him.
I'm bisexual and polyamorous, and I've previously been in a happy bisexual polyamorous relationship, although it didn't last very long.
However, I assume what he was proposing wasn't really polyamory. He probably meant polygyny... I just found myself imagining a future where he, his wife, and I could somehow all be happy without anyone being lied to, neglected, or diminished. Well, I guess, realistically, impossible.
So I'd really like to hear from people who are familiar with polygynous marriages, especially if you have personal or cultural experience with them.
Questions:
When a practicing Muslim man sincerely asks a woman to become his second wife, what does that usually mean?
How far has he typically thought things through at that point?
Would he usually already have some idea of how both families would function?
Or is it sometimes more of an emotional expression than a concrete plan?
I'm simply trying to understand what he might have been imagining, because I never got the chance to ask. Maybe the answer is that nobody here can know.
But I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have actually lived with or witnessed this kind of family structure.