بِسۡمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy
Question:
Why is a man allowed to have
more than one wife in Islam? i.e. why is
polygamy allowed in Islam?
Answer:
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; whereas polyandry
is completely prohibited.
Now coming to the original
question, why is a man allowed to have more than
one wife?
2. The Qur’an is the only
religious scripture in the world that says,
“marry only one”.
The 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 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. 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 few
centuries ago that the Church
restricted the number of wives to one.
Polygyny is permitted in
Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had
three wives, and Solomon had
hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny
continued till Rabbi Gershom
ben Yehudah (960 C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an
edict against it. The Jewish
Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries
continued the practice till as
late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of
Israel extended the ban on
marrying more than one wife.
(*Interesting Note:- 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’, published 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 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 Muslims. 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.
3. 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 women of your choice,
two, or three, or four; 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 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]
Therefore polygyny is not a
rule but an exception. Many people are under the
misconception that it is
compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one wife.
Broadly, Islam has five
categories of Do’s and Don’ts:
(i) ‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or
obligatory
(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e.
recommended or encouraged
(iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible
or allowed
(iv) ‘Makruh’ i.e. not
recommended or discouraged
(v) ‘Haraam’ i.e. prohibited or
forbidden
Polygyny falls in the middle
category of things that are permissible. It cannot be
said that a Muslim who has two,
three or four wives is a better Muslim as
compared to a Muslim who has
only one wife.
4. Average life span of females
is more than that of males
By nature males and females are
born in approximately the same ratio. 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, during the
pediatric age itself there are
more deaths among males as compared to the
females.
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.
5. India has more male
population than female due to female
foeticide and infanticide
India is one of the few
countries, along with the other neighbouring countries, in
which the female population is
less than the male population. The reason lies in
the high rate of female
infanticide in India, and the fact that more than one
million female foetuses are
aborted every year in this country, after they are
identified as females. If this
evil practice is stopped, then India too will have
more females as compared to
males.
6. 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 U.S.A 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.
7. 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 females in U.S.A
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. All
those who are modest will opt
for the first.
Most women would nto like to
share their husband with other women. But in
Islam when the situation deems
it really neccessary Muslim women in due faith
could bear a small personal
loss to prevent a greater loss of letting other Muslim
sisters becoming 'public
properties'.
8. Marring
a married man preferable to becoming 'public property'
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.
2. POLYANDRY
Question:
If a man is allowed to have
more than one wife, then why does Islam prohibit a
woman from having more than one
husband?
Answer:
A lot of people, including some
Muslims, question the logic of allowing Muslim
men to have more than one
spouse while denying the same ‘right’ to women.
Let me first state
emphatically, that the foundation of an Islamic society is justice
and equity. Allah has created
men and women as equal, but with different
capabilities and different
responsibilities. Men and women are different,
physiologically and
psychologically. Their roles and responsibilities are different.
Men and women are equal in
Islam, but not identical.
Surah Nisa’ Chapter 4 verses 22
to 24 gives the list of women with whom
Muslim men can not marry. It is
further mentioned in Surah Nisa’ Chapter 4
verse 24 “Also (prohibited are)
women already married”
The following points enumerate
the reasons why polyandry is prohibited in
Islam:
1. If a man has more than one
wife, the parents of the children born of such
marriages can easily be
identified. The father as well as the mother can
easily be identified. In case
of a woman marrying more than one husband,
only the mother of the children
born of such marriages will be identified and
not the father. Islam gives
tremendous importance to the identification of
both parents, mother and father.
Psychologists tell us that children who do
not know their parents,
especially their father undergo severe mental
trauma and disturbances. Often
they have an unhappy childhood. It is for
this reason that the children
of prostitutes do not have a healthy childhood.
If a child born of such wedlock
is admitted in school, and when the mother
is asked the name of the
father, she would have to give two or more names!
I am aware that recent advances
in science have made it possible for both
the mother and father to be
identified with the help of genetic testing. Thus
this point which was applicable
for the past may not be applicable for the
present.
2. Man is more polygamous by
nature as compared to a woman.
3. Biologically, it is easier
for a man to perform his duties as a husband despite
having several wives. A woman,
in a similar position, having several
husbands, will not find it
possible to perform her duties as a wife. A woman
undergoes several psychological
and behavioral changes due to different
phases of the menstrual cycle.
4. A woman who has more than
one husband will have several sexual
partners at the same time and
has a high chance of acquiring venereal or
sexually transmitted diseases
which can also be transmitted back to her
husband even if all of them
have no extra-marital sex. This is not the case
in a man having more than one
wife, and none of them having extra-marital
sex.
The above reasons are those
that one can easily identify. There are probably
many more reasons why Allah, in His Infinite Wisdom, has
prohibited polyandry.
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