Polygamy in Islam and its Purpose, and its Misconception and misused

What a Muslim can marry a Non Muslim:

It is permissible for a Muslim man to marry a non-Muslim woman if she is Christian or Jewish, but it is not permissible for him to marry a non-Muslim woman who follows any religion other than these two. The evidence for that is the verse in which Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning)

In India under special Marriage Act It is permissible for two different caste people through register marriage before Marriage Registrar

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 Polygamy where a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries more than one man. In Islam, limited Polygamy is permitted; whereas polyandry is completely prohibited.

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 wish. 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.

Polygamy is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of Polygamy 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.

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 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

Qur'an permits limited Polygamy

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 Polygamy 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 Polygamy 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:

1. 'Fard' i.e. compulsory or obligatory
2. 'Mustahab' i.e. recommended or encouraged
3. 'Mubah' i.e. permissible or allowed
4. 'Makruh' i.e. not recommended or discouraged
5. 'Haraam' i.e. prohibited or forbidden

Polygamy falls in the middle category of things that are permissible. It cannot be said that a Let us now analyze why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.

Q: If a man is allowed to have more than one wife, then why does Islam prohibit a woman from having more than one husband?

A: 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 who you cannot marry and it is further mentions 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 those 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.

MISCONCEPTION: 

All Muslim men marry four wives.

The religion of Islam was revealed for all societies and all times and so accommodates  widely differing social requirements.  Circumstances may warrant the taking of another wife but the  right is granted,according to the Quran, only on condition that the husband is scrupulously fair. No woman can be forced into this kind of marriage if they do not wish it, and they also have the  right to exclude it in their marriage contract. 

Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but  merely permitted.Images of "sheikhs with harems" are not consistent with Islam, as a man is  only allowed at most four wives only if he can fulfill the stringent conditions of treating each fairly  and providing each with separate housing etc.  Permission to practice polygamy is not

associated  with mere satisfaction of passion.  It is rather associated with compassion toward widows and  orphans. It was the Quran that limited and put conditions on the practice of polygamy among the  Arabs, who had as many as ten or more wives and considered them "property". 

It is both honest and accurate to say that it is Islam that regulated this practice, limited  it, made it more humane, and instituted equal rights and status for all wives. What the Qur'anic  decrees amount to, taken together is discouragement of polygamy unless necessity for it exists. It is also evident that the general rule in Islam is monogamy and not polygamy. It is a very  tiny percentage of Muslims that practice it over the world. However, permission to practice limited polygamy is only consistent with Islam's realistic view of the nature of man and woman and of  various social needs, problems and cultural variations.

The question is, however far more than the inherent flexibility of Islam; it also is the frank  and straightforward approach of Islam in dealing with practical problems.  Rather than requiring  hypocritical and superficial compliance, Islam delves deeper into the problems of individuals and  societies, and provides for legitimate and clean solutions which are far more beneficial than would  be the case if they were ignored. There is no doubt that the second wife legally married and treated  kindly is better off than a mistress without any legal rights or ex permanence.

Thanks

Submit your Feed Backs