Reply to: why polygamy is allowed in Islam ?

Question: 

Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in Islam? d ie. why polygamy is allowed in Islam 

answer: 

Definition of Polygamie 

1 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 wife 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 do we allow a man to have more than one wife? 

2 The Qur'an is the only religious sacred Scripture in the world that says, "marry you with ONE" 

The Qur'an is the only religious book on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase? May marry only with you. There is no religious book that instructs men to have only one wife. In any scripture of any religion, the Vedas, the Ramayan, Mahabharat on the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible in fact we think we can get married as much as you want. It was only recently that the Hindu priests and the Christian Church had restricted women to a. 

Many religious Hindu the personalities, according their Saintes scriptures, had multiple women. Dashrat king, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had several wives. 

In early times, Christians we allowed men as many women they have desired, since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of women. It was only a few centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of women in one. 

Polygamy is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of women. The practice of polygamy continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries continued the practice until 1950 already, to an act of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife. 

3. The Hindus are more of polygamous that Muslims 

The report of 'Switched Statute of Women in Islam', published in 1975 mentions 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 Muslims. According the Indian law only the Muslims men are allowed to have more than a woman. 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 were no restriction even Hindu men regarding the permitted number of women. 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 analyze why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife. 

4 Qur'an permits limited polygyny 

As above-mentioned, the Qur'an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says may marry with ONE "this phrase is the following verse from Surah Nisa of the holy Qur'an?: 

"And if you fear not act equitably towards orphans, ... It is permissible to marry two, three or four among the women of your choice, but if you fear that you will not do justice those -C, then one,. "

[Al-Qur'an 4: 3] 

Before the Qur'an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had many 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 condition that he deals justly 

In the same chapter that is to say. Surah Nisa verse 129 says: 

"You can never be justice between wives, even if you're concerned ....". [Al-Qur'an 4: 129] 

So polygamy is not A RULE, but an exception. Many people are under the misconception that it is obligatory for the Muslim woman to have more than a man. 

Generally, Islam has five categories of do and do not do: 

'Fard that is to say mandatory 

'Mustahab' ie recommended or encouraged say 

'Mubah' that is to say, allowed 

'Makruh' that is to say, not recommended or discouraged 

'Haraam' that is to-say prohibits or defended 

Polygamy falls middle of category of things that are permitted. We can not say that a Muslim who has two, three or four wives is a better Muslim as compared to a Muslim who has only one wife. 

5 The average life span of females is more than males 

By nature males and females are born at approximately the same ration. A girl has more immunity than a male child. A female child can fight against germs and diseases better than the male child. For this reason, during the pediatric age itself there are more deaths among males compared to females. 

During the wars, there has more men killed like compared to women. More men die due to accidents and diseases than women. The average life span of females is more than that of the male and at any time one finds more widows in the world than widowers. 

6 World female population is more than male population 

In the United States, women surpass men by 7.8 million. New York alone has one million more females as compared to the number of males, and the male population of New York is third gay (gay) ie d. sodomites. L'USA has as a whole more than twenty-five of homosexuals million. This means that these people do not wish to marry women 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 women than males. God alone knows how many million more females there are in the world as compared to males. 

8 Restricting every man to have only one wife is not practical 

Same if every man married a woman, there would always over thirty million of females in USA that would not able to obtain husbands (seen that America has twenty five of homosexuals million). There are 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. 

In Western society, it is common for a man to have mistresses and / or multiple extra-marital relationship, where the woman leads a disgraceful life without protection. The same society, however, can not accept a man having more than one wife, in which women retain their honorable place, worthy in society and lead a protected life. 

Thus the only two options before a woman who can not find a husband is to marry a married man or to become public property. Islam prefers giving women the honorable position by permitting the first option and reject the second. 

There are several other reasons, why Islam has permitted limited polygyny, but it must above all protect the modesty of women. 

polygamy is not recommended, but it is permitted to say it's not if a Muslim does not have more of a woman so he committed a sin. 

Polygamy is permitted for pure true Muslims and not for anyone, that could damage the company with such a marriage, when he does not give right to their wives, and in many cases children die hungry .. 

Qur'an states that a man is responsible for the maintenance of his wife or wives housing food, clothing ... 

Multiple marriages are a heavy responsibility on the male. It's not a pleasure trip as some may assume. Some even imagine all kinds of sexual exploits involving a man and his wives altogether. However, such activity is not permitted in Islam. A man must divide his time equally among his wives. It can, for example, spend a night with each wife on a rotating schedule. 

If a man can not maintain justice in the treatment of his wives, the Qur'an states that it must not have more than one wife .: 

look at this verse 

Coran4 / 3 

And if you fear that you will not do justice to orphans ... It is permissible to marry two, three or four among the women of your choice, but if you fear that you will not do justice celles- one, then only one or what your rights are acquired. This order not to do injustice (or so as not to aggravate your dependents). 

So it's not an order, yet permission, and no one says that if a Muslim marries only one, then it is sin !! 

was permitted but not prohibited, and permission was well organized, if you fear not being fair with them, then only one that is justice between them. This is confirmed by the following: 

Quran 4 / [129] 

You can never be equitable between your wives, even if you are worried. Do not you angle quite towards one of them, to the point to let the other as if in suspense. But if you make peace and you are pious ... Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. 

Here we clearly see that Allah tells men that they will never be fair to their wives. 

Let's see why then the Almighty Allah has temporarily recommended polygamy but yet he strongly discouraged! 

What was the purpose of verse 4: 3? 

Verse 4: 3 was said at one time the prophet Muhammad PBUH was in Madina after he emigrated from Mecca and established an Islamic state 

  there long after the battle of Uhud in which the Muslims had not only lost and suffered a dramatic decline in the number of Muslim men. Muslim men before fighting had approximately 700 men. They became only 400 after the battle. This loss has caused so many Muslim women widows and orphans was not able to meet their needs 

To do this issue the Muslims had faced yet another battle against the pagans in Mecca and neighboring tribes who wanted to attack the Muslims in Madina to finish off Islam once and for all, as "Battle of the Ditch" 

These ongoing battles against the Muslims were very costly in terms of lives of Muslim men, ie therefore more orphans and widows. 

For this reason, Allah revealed to the noble 4: 3 Muhammad PBUH on him to solve social problems that Muslims faced. because it is logical and normal we will not let these widows into prostitution to earn their bread and their children ... something else too when Muslims win wars there are prisoners of war-as case saffya - and so we're going to put them into slavery as did the Jews do to the wild or concubines. There is no concubine in Islamic dictionary. 

We see that Allah given high importance for widows and orphans while mentioning orphans before the women to report to the world why this polygamy? 

In conclusion we say that polygamy is not encouraged in the Koran, nor prohibited, rather it is a permission to implement orphans and widows in value. 

These truths were even confirmed by the testimony of non-Muslims: 

John Esposito says 

Although it is found in many religious and cultural traditions, polygamy (or more accurately, polygyny) is most often identified with Islam in the minds of Westerners. In fact, the Qur'an and Islamic law sought to control and regulate the number of spouses rather than give free license. (John Esposito, L'Islam: Le droit chemin, Oxford University, 1988, p 97.). 

Esposito then goes on to explain that in a society that has allowed men an unlimited number of wives, Islam limited the number of wives to four. Then he went on to say: 

The Qur'an allows a man to marry up to four wives if he can support them and treat all equally. Muslims consider this Quranic command as strengthen the status of women and family to him sought to ensure the well-being of women and single widows in a society whose male population has been diminished by the war, and to limit the polygamy without restriction (John Esposito: Islam the right path, p 97. 

Written by: Ismael-y