Um Abdullah experienced the biggest fraud in her life when her husband took her inheritance, built a house and brought in a second wife to live under a roof financed by his first wife.

Um Abdullah worked as a teacher for 15 years, sharing house and family with her husband and children. She was employed, and therefore pitched in with the cost of living. Her husband had often expressed his desire to have the family own a house, and socked away money for the goal. Over the years, the dream was built little by little.

Then Um Abdullah’s father passed away and she received a windfall SR300,000, which she instinctively but foolishly gave right away to her husband to complete the dream of being a homeowner.

When the house was finally completed, the husband arrived with a second wife. He said that marrying a second wife is permitted in Islam, and there was nothing his first wife could do about it.

Um Abdullah said she almost committed suicide, but instead, at the urging of her family, reluctantly moved into the new, unfamiliar house with the second wife.

Um Abdullah said what followed was the life of a domestic warrior rather than a wife. Her life was a conflict between her disdain for the obvious and her love for her children. In the end, she took out a bank loan and moved into a separate apartment.

Al-Riyadh received many letters telling a similar story. The details may be different, but one common thread exists in all of the letters: the foolishness of women to place such trust in men, even their husbands.

Law doesn’t protect fools, even if the fools are wives, mothers or daughters. If men are inherently deceptive, they deceive women repeatedly in different scenarios and utilizing many mischievous techniques. Men convince women that they are incapable of handling their money. They convince their wives that there is absolutely no harm in having a second, third, or fourth wife; that he’s only practicing his God-given right. On the other hand, the woman believes that she can trust her partner in life, but he usually turns to be unworthy of her trust. In this regard, both women and men are wrong.

Many women hand over their financial savings to their husbands or brothers without any documents or evidence to protect them from being victims of theft or deception.

I don’t think that men are 100 percent guilty; it’s tempting for men to gamble with women’s foolishness. Trust is always required among family members, yet proper care must be taken to protect each individual’s property from being destroyed by the other should the relationship take a turn for the worst. Injustice to people is often due to bad endings, but why do women allow them this injustice when Islam gave them the right to be independent and prove their rights by written documents or contracts?