Why is a person allowed to have multiple wives in Islam? i.e. why is polygamy allowed in Islam?
Reply:
- Definition of Polygamy
Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one particular person has multiple partners. Polygamy could be of two types. One is polygyny where a person marries multiple women, and the opposite is polyandry, whereas a girl marries multiple men. In Islam, restricted polygamy is permitted; whereas polyandry is totally prohibited.
Now coming to the question, why is a person allowed to have multiple spouses?
2. The Qur’an is the only religious scripture on this planet that says, “marry just one”.
The Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that accommodates the phrase ‘marry just one’. There isn’t any other religious book that instructs males to have just one spouse. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. In accordance with these scriptures one can marry as many as one needs. It was solely later, that the Hindu clergymen and the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to 1.
Many Hindu religious personalities, based on their scriptures, had a number of wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had a couple of spouses. Krishna had a number of wives.
In earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished, because the Bible places no restriction on the variety of wives. It was only some centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to 1.
Polygyny is permitted in Judaism. In accordance with Talmudic legislation, Abraham had three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny continued until Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (960 C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities residing in Muslim nations continued the practice until as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying multiple wives.
(*Interesting fact:- As per the 1975 census of India Hindus are more polygynous than Muslims. The report of the ‘Committee of The Status of Woman in Islam’, printed in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961 was 5.06% among Hindus and solely 4.31% among the Muslims. In accordance with Indian legislation only Muslim males are permitted to have more than one spouse. It’s unlawful for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one spouse. Regardless of it being unlawful, Hindus have more wives as in comparison with Muslims. Earlier, there was no restriction even on Hindu males with respect to the number wives allowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it grew to become unlawful for a Hindu to have more than one spouse. At current it’s the Indian Regulation that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one spouse and never the Hindu scriptures.)
Let us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have multiple spouses.
3. Qur’an permits restricted polygyny
As I discussed earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says ‘marry just one’. The context of this phrase is the next verse from Surah Nisa of the Glorious Qur’an:
“Marry women of your selection, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be capable to deal justly (with them), then just 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 offers a person permission to marry two, three or four women, solely on the situation that he deals justly with them.
In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:
“Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women… ”
[Al-Qur’an 4:129]
Due to this fact polygyny isn’t a rule however an exception. Many individuals are under the misconception that it’s obligatory for a Muslim man to have more than one spouse.
Broadly, Islam has five classes of Do’s and Don’ts:
- ‘Fard’ i.e. obligatory or compulsory
- ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged
- ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed
- ‘Makruh’ i.e. not recommended or discouraged
- ‘Haraam’ i.e. prohibited or forbidden
Polygyny falls within the center class of issues that are permissible. It cannot be stated {that a} Muslim who has two, three or 4 wives is a better Muslim as in comparison with a Muslim who has just one spouse.
4. Average life span of females is greater than that of males
By nature men and women are born in roughly the identical ratio. A female child has extra immunity than a male child. A female child can fight the germs and diseases better than the male child. Because of this, through the pediatric age itself there are more deaths among males as in comparison with the females.
Throughout wars, there are more males killed as compared to girls. Extra males die due to accidents and illnesses than women. The typical life span of females is greater than that of males, and at any given time one finds more widows in the world than widowers.
5. India has more male population than female due to female foeticide and infanticide
India is among the few countries, together with the other neighbouring countries, in which the female population is less than the male inhabitants. The reason lies in the high rate of female infanticide in India, and the fact that more than one million female foetuses are aborted yearly in this country, after they’re identified as females. If this evil practice is stopped, then India too will have more females as in comparison with males.
6. World female population is more than male population
In the USA, women outnumber males by 7.8 million. New York alone has a million extra females as compared to the number of males, and of the male population of New York one-third are gays i.e sodomites. The U.S.A as a whole has more than twenty-five million gays. Which means these folks don’t want to marry women. Great Britain has 4 million more females as compared to males. Germany has 5 million extra females as in comparison with males. Russia has 9 million extra females than males. God alone is aware of what number of million extra females there are in the entire world as compared to males.
7. Restricting each and every man to have just one spouse isn’t practical
Even if each man got married to one girl, there would nonetheless be more than thirty million females in U.S.A who would not be able to get husbands (considering that America has twenty 5 million gays). There could be more than 4 million females in Great Britain, 5 million females in Germany and 9 million females in Russia alone who wouldn’t be able to find a husband.
Suppose my sister occurs to be one of the single women residing in USA, or suppose your sister happens to be one of many unmarried women in USA. The only two choices remaining for her are that she either marries a person who already has a spouse or turns into ‘public property’. There is no other possibility. All those that are modest will go for the first.
Most girls would not prefer to share their husband with other women. However in Islam when the situation deems it really necessary Muslim women in due faith could bear a small personal loss to prevent a greater loss of letting other Muslim sisters turning into ‘public properties’.
8. Marrying a married man preferable to becoming ‘public property’
In Western society, it is not uncommon 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 spouse, in which girls 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 allowing the first option and disallowing the second.
There are several other reasons, why Islam has permitted restricted polygyny, but it is mainly to guard the modesty of women.
