1. Definition of Polygamy Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries more than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted and polyandry is completely prohibited. Now coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than one wife?
2. Qur'an is the only religious scripture in the world that says 'marry only one' Qur'an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase 'marry only one'. There is no other religious book that instructs men to have only one wife. In none of the religious scriptures like the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta or the Bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one can marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.
Many Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had several wives. In earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished, since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a couple of centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.
Polygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had 2 wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah. (960 A.D to 1030 A.D) issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries continued the practice till as late as 1950, when an Act of the chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.
3. Hindus are more polygamous than Muslims The report of the 'Committee of The Status of Woman in Islam', published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66,67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the year 1951 -1961 was 5.06 among the Hindus and only 4.31 among the Muslims. According to Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It is illegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it being illegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to the Muslim. One can imagine what would have been the percentage of polygamous marriages among the Hindus if the Indian government had made it legal for them. Earlier, there was no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wives allowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it became illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the Indian Law that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not the Hindu scriptures. Let us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.
4. Qur'an permits limited polygyny As I mentioned earlier, Qur'an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says 'marry only one'. The context of this phrase is the following verse from Surah Nisa of the Glorious Qur'an: 'Marry woman of your choice in twos' threes' or fours' but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly, (with them), then only one' [Al-Qur'an 4:3]
Before the Qur'an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limit of four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women, only on the condition that he deals with them justly. In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says: 'It is very difficult to be just and fair between women'. [Al-Qur'an (4:129)]
Therefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to marry more than one wife.
Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do's and Dont's.
5. Average life span of females is more than that of males By nature males and females are born in approximately the same ratio. During paediatric age however, in childhood itself a female child has more immunity than a male child. A female child can fight the germs and diseases better than the male child. For this reason, there are more deaths among males as compared to the females during paediatric age.
During wars, there are more men killed as compared to women. More men die due to accidents and diseases than women. The average life span of females is more than that of males, and at any given time one finds more widows in the world than widowers.
7. World female population is more than male population In the USA, women outnumber men by 7.8 million. New York alone has one million more females as compared to the number of males, and of the male population of New York one-third are gays i.e sodomites. The USA as a whole has more than twenty-five million gays. This means that these people do not wish to marry women. Great Britain has four million more females as compared to males. Germany has five million more females as compared to males. Russia has nine million more females than males. God alone knows how many million more females there are in the whole world as compared to males.
8. Restricting each and every man to have only one wife is not practical Even if every man got married to one woman, there would still be more than thirty million more females in USA who would not be able to get husbands (considering that America has twenty five million gays). There would be more than four million females in Great Britain 5 million females in Germany and nine million females in Russia alone who would not be able to find a husband.
Suppose my sister happens to be one of the unmarried women living in USA, or suppose your sister happens to be one of the unmarried women in USA. The only two options remaining for her are that she either marries a man who already has a wife or becomes public property. There is no other option. I have posed this question to hundreds of non-Muslims and all opted for the first. However a few smart people before accepting, said they would prefer their sisters to remain virgins. Biologically, it is not possible for an average man or a woman to remain celibate throughout life. It may be possible in exceptional cases of one in ten thousand. In the vast majority, the person either gets married or performs illicit sex or indulges in other sexual perversions. Sex hormones are released in the adult body every day. That is the reason why Islam has prohibited monasticism.
In Western society it is common for a man to have mistresses and/or multiple extra-marital affairs, in which case, the woman leads a disgraceful, unprotected life. The same society, however, cannot accept a man having more than one wife, in which women retain their honourable, dignified position in society and lead a protected life.
Thus the only two options before a woman who cannot find a husband is to marry a married man or to become public property. Islam prefers giving women the honourable position by permitting the first option and disallowing the second. There are several other reasons, why Islam has permitted limited polygyny, but it is mainly to protect the modesty of women.(by zakir naik )
The phenomenon of multiple wives or "polygamy" has been one of the issues of the societies throughout the history of mankind. This phenomenon has attracted the attention of the researchers in different Eastern and Western countries even in the present age.
For example, some time ago, in United States a Christian priest "David Krish" claimed that he was a messenger of God and who also tried to collect weapons in his temple. He and his companions were killed by security forces of United States. It was revealed that he had 16 wives.
In the year 2006, another priest, "Varen Jeffs" in Utah State in America, who had about eighty wives, was summoned before the court as a result of complaints from some of his wives and for some other reasons. The explanations and expressions of his thoughts and the leadership of his sect and promulgation of polygamy was for a while the subject of the news and television discussions.
It seems one of the social elements and a justification for polygamy in all centuries is that there have always been more women in comparison to men in many countries. Factors such as numerous wars prevailing in many countries, men working in dangerous places such as mines, the increase in life expectancy amongst women, and many other factors have caused the increase in the number of women in relation to men in the society.
In order to accommodate the lives of these women who could not find their male match, especially those who had lost their husbands in wars, some previous social reformers advised those men who economically and financially are able to support more than one family to marry these women who otherwise would have no opportunity to have married lives.
Social scholars have suggested three solutions to solve the problem of these groups of women whose number is more than that of men.
The First Solution is that these women remain single to the end of their lives and their expenses are covered by the governments. Although this solution may seem to be ideal, but considering two points it is not practical. Firstly, generally speaking, in previous societies and in many countries at present time, there is no social security system to cover these expenses. The women without the support will be vulnerable and will be deprived and left on their own. Secondly, each human being, further to his/her material requirements, has some natural and sexual needs and being asked to be single and unmarried for their entire life would be a recommendation against her/his natural needs and rights.
Second Solution is as is practiced in Western societies, is to expose these women to prostitution and earn their livelihood in this way.
Third Solution which is attributed to Bertrand Russell is that governments should provide the financial requirements of these women and their natural needs would be fulfilled through prostitution and illegitimate relations.
Obviously the second and third solution would lead into great social disorders such as degrading a women’s honour such as that of prostitutes and its consequential dangerous outcomes, such as an increase in the number of illegitimate children. Considering the millions of illegitimate children in European and American countries, some of the western scholars have admitted the incorrectness of the second and the third solutions.
Fourth Solution is that in order to meet the financial and natural needs of this group of women, those men who are able to support more than one family economically and socially should marry another woman. This solution has been practiced during many historical cycles and in many countries such as Mesopotamia region, ancient Persia, Arabian countries and similar places.
Considering the above, it becomes clear that polygamy is not limited to Islamic period or its divine guidance, but it is something which had prevailed among ancient nations as well. Furthermore, many of pre-Islamic religious leaders who are respected by Christians and Jews, such as the Prophet Abraham (Peace be upon him) had more than one wife.
With regard to these four solutions, Islam does not recommend the first solution for its impracticality in societies and the denial of natural needs of the women. It also rejects the second and third solutions because of prevalence of prostitution and its outcomes and Islam clearly discards them.
In order to solve this social disorder, only the fourth solution remains.
Islam has neither denied it completely nor at the same time approved it unconditionally and without any limitations.
Prior to advent of Islam in Arabian Peninsula, without undertaking necessary commitments for supporting women, men were allowed to marry even ten women. Furthermore, head of states such as some kings in dynasties of ancient Persia used to keep tens of spouses, rather than the queen, in their Harems.
On the one hand, Islam limited polygamy and the number of wives one could have, and on the other hand, imposed two following main conditions:
First Condition: the ability of the husband to manage more than one family economically and to provide legitimate and natural needs of all the wives and their children.
Second Condition: the observance of treatment based on justice by husband towards all the wives and the proper and fair attitude to them on equal bases, without discrimination and without usurping the rights of anyone of them.
Now in order to clarify the role of Islam in limiting and imposing conditions on polygamy, two verses of the Glorious Quran will be reviewed:
Sura an-Nisa’ – 4 The Woman
وَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تُقْسِطُوا فِي الْيَتَامَىٰ فَانْكِحُوا مَا طَابَ لَكُمْ مِنَ النِّسَاءِ مَثْنَىٰ وَثُلَاثَ وَرُبَاعَ ۖ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا فَوَاحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمَانُكُمْ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ أَدْنَىٰ أَلَّا تَعُولُوا
[4:3] If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess. That will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.
The expressions of this verse indicate that the permission for polygamy from Islamic point of view is under certain strict conditions, without them, the social problems would not be solved.
The other point to note according to this verse is that the number of wives, under the specified special circumstances, has been limited to two, three and a maximum four. And Islam, according to this verse clearly does not permit unlimited number of wives even if one is able to observe these conditions.
Furthermore, the Glorious Quran has considered the justice among wives as the fundamental factor in polygamy and Islam clearly opposes having more than one wife if these conditions cannot be fulfilled. In that case it is recommended that a man should have only one wife. The Quran categorically states: but if you fear that you shall be not able to deal justly with them then marry only one.
In another verse of the Chapter “Women” of Glorious Quran, we read:
Sura an-Nisa’ – 4 The Womanوَلَنْ تَسْتَطِيعُوا أَنْ تَعْدِلُوا بَيْنَ النِّسَاءِ وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ ۖ فَلَا تَمِيلُوا كُلَّ الْمَيْلِ فَتَذَرُوهَا كَالْمُعَلَّقَةِ ۚ وَإِنْ تُصْلِحُوا وَتَتَّقُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًا رَحِيمًا[4:129] You are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if it is your ardent desire: but turn not away (from a woman) altogether, so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air). If you come to a friendly understanding, and practice self- restraint, Allah is oft-forgiving, most merciful.When this verse is compared with the third verse of the same chapter of the Glorious Quran, and if we think about them, obviously we will find that the Glorious Quran, in normal condition and where there are no exceptional circumstances, Islam prefers monogamy. Islam also limits the resort to polygamy even as a solution for social problems and insists on following with justice, which is difficult to accomplish.
Source and more study:
As regards the permission to marry more than one wife (up to the maximum of four), it is so restricted by the condition, "if you have reason to fear that you might not be able to treat them with equal fairness, then [marry only] one", as to make such plural marriages possible only in quite exceptional cases and under exceptional circumstances . Still, one might ask why the same latitude has not been given to women as well; but the answer is simple. Notwithstanding the spiritual factor of love which influences the relations between man and woman, the determinant biological reason for the sexual urge is, in both sexes, procreation: and whereas a woman can, at one time, conceive a child from one man only and has to carry it for nine months before she can conceive another, a man can beget a child every time he cohabits with a woman. Thus, while nature would have been merely wasteful if it had produced a polygamous instinct in woman, man's polygamous inclination is biologically justified. It is, of course, obvious that the biological factor is only one - and by no means always the most important - of the aspects of marital love: none the less, it is a basic factor and, therefore, decisive in the institution of marriage as such. With the wisdom that always takes human nature fully into account, Islamic Law undertakes no more than the safeguarding of the socio-biological function of marriage (which includes also care of the progeny), allowing a man to have more than one wife ald not allowing a woman to have more than one husband at one time; while the spiritual problem of marriage, being imponderable and therefore outside the scope of law, is left to the discretion of the partners. In any event - since marriage in Islam is a purely civil contract - recourse to divorce is always open to either of the two partners. (Regarding the dissolution of a marriage at the wife's instance, see note on surah 2, verse 229.) by muhammad assad
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