This is not a prophetic hadith, but rather a statement made by Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) as narrated by Sa’id bin Jubair and reported by Imam Al-Bukhari. Ibn Abbas asked Sa’id bin Jubair if he had married, and upon his response in the negative, Ibn Abbas advised him to get married, stating ‘the best of this nation are those who have the most women.’
There is no contradiction between the statement of Ibn Abbas and the authentic hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) as narrated by Ibn Abbas and Imran bin Hussain: ‘I looked into Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women, and I looked into Paradise and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were the poor.’
Firstly, the preference referred to in Ibn Abbas’s statement is that of the world and its righteousness, where a person finds what protects them from the forbidden. This can only be achieved through the presence of women. When the number of women is greater, a man’s opportunity for protection increases, as well as the opportunity for reproduction and multiplication. This can only be achieved through the abundance of women.
Secondly, the hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him) does not focus on the number as much as it focuses on the reasons for entering the Hellfire. It came in the context of preaching and is an anshaa (a sentence that expresses a subjective idea or feeling) in form of khabar (sentence that conveys objective information).
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr