Did you know that muslims according to the Quran A MAN can MARRY up to 4 wives? AT TH
004.003
YUSUFALI: If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, 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, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.
YEAH GOOD RELIGION.
HOW IGNORANT.
GO AHEAD APPARENTLY SIGN UP CAUSE OSAMA BIN LADEN HAS FOUR WIVES. HE'S A TERRORIST.
NO YOUR WRONG READ IT
SO HOW CAN THE MY GOD and Allah be the SAME GOD.
ACCORDING to THE BIBLE WE ARE ONLY ALLOWED TO HAVE ONE WIFE.
Genesis 2:24 - Therefore shall a MAN LEAVE his FATHER and his MOTHER, and shall cleave unto his WIFE: and they shall BE ONE FLESH.
Matthew 5:32 (Whole Chapter)
But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his WIFE, saving for the cause of fornication, causer her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall MARRY her that is divorced committee ADULTERY.
Mark 10:11 (Whole Chapter)
And he saith unto them, Whosoever shall put away his WIFE, and MARRY ANOTHER, committee ADULTERY against HER. NOTICE WIFE NOT WIVES. SEE ALLAH AND MY GOD ARE NOT THE SAME
In fact, I see you being ignorant here since you are not looking at the context of that verse of the Qur'an. I would urge everyone to look at something as a whole instead of bashing one aspect that they don't even know.
Islam actually LIMITED the number of wives one could have. In other previous religions, there was no limit and at least in the society of that time, people would marry as many women as possible.
Also, many men were dying in wars and battles around that time and many women were widows. To protect them and their children, men married these widows.
So these days it's totally OK to be married to one person and say you love her/him and all but at the same time, you are cheating and have like 6 different relationships and affairs. Isn't that the same thing? Isn't that worse since you are hiding it from your family?
Here's a good article which might help you understand this better (which I hope is your intention since bashing any religion is inhumane and ignorant) :
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Reasons Why Islam Permits Polygamy
Description: Some of the reasons why polygamy has been allowed in Islam, from population statistics to the physical nature of humans.
By IslamReligion - Published on 25 Apr 2006 - Last modified on 02 May 2006
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All mandates of the religion of Islam are from God, the Wise, and thus one deduces that all things which are permitted are due to the fact that their benefit to the self and society outweighs their harms. When one analyzes the reasons and results of the allowance of polygamy, it will be found that indeed the rulings of the religion of Islam are truly those which suits all times and places, as their source is God Almighty, the Wise and the Knowledgeable.
As the Quran indicates (4:3), the issue of polygamy in Islam is understood in the light of community obligations towards orphans and widows. Islam, as a universal religion that is suitable for all times and places, can not ignore these compelling obligations.
Islamic polygamy addresses the social problems of prostitution and extramarital affairs common in the West. Instead of cheating - infidelity is one of the top reasons for divorce in the West - Islam allows a man to marry more than one wife, with full recognition of the rights of both of them. The basic principle in Islam is that men are held responsible for their behavior towards women just as women are responsible for their behavior towards men.
The number of women in the world exceeds that of men. The surplus is a result of men dying in wars, violent crimes, and women outliving men.[1] The upsurge in homosexuality further increases the problem. Bertrand Russell wrote, ?And in all countries where there is an excess of women, it is an obvious injustice that those women who, by arithmetical necessity, must remain unmarried should be wholly debarred from sexual experience.?[2] Polygamy, then, is the only responsible solution for this predicament.
Country[3]
Male Population
Female Population
Russia
46.1%
53.9%
UK
48.6%
51.5%
USA
48.8%
51.2%
Brazil
49.7%
50.27%
Let us take the US as an example. Why are extramarital affairs so widespread? ?What makes this state of affairs possible, of course, is a supply of willing women. Most are single, both because of the growing numbers of unmarried women (there are 34 million in the United States today) and because single women generally have more free time and energy than do their married counterparts. Consider these statistics: One out of every five women today has no potential mate because there are simply not enough single men to go around. A 25-year-old single woman faces a serious under supply of available men to start with, and the situation gets worse the older a woman gets. Divorced men are much more likely than divorced women to remarry (and they tend to marry younger women), so that there are more than twice as many single women as there are single men in their 40s. Indeed, a woman who divorces at 35 today is likely to remain single for the rest of her life. Caught in a demographic bind while seeking greater autonomy, more and more single women are opting for involvement with married men.?[4]
In addition, surplus of women who are not financially maintained by a husband is a cause of increased prostitution in the society. For example, Germany has 0.96 males/female. Under Germany?s welfare reforms, any woman under 55 who has been out of work for more than a year can be forced to take an available job ? including being a prostitute in the sex industry ? or lose her unemployment benefit![5] A 1994 study found that 16% of 18-59 year old men in a US survey group had paid for sex (Gagnon, Laumann, and Kolata 1994).
Furthermore, the problem of the unbalanced sex ratios can worsen during times of war. The WWII war-bride phenomenon is a case in point. After the WWII there were 7,300,000 more women than men in Germany alone (3.3 million of them were widows). There were 100 men aged 20 to 30 for every 167 women in that age group. Many of these women needed a man not only as a companion but also as a provider for the household in a time of unprecedented misery and hardship. The soldiers in the victorious Allied Armies exploited these women?s vulnerability. Many young girls and widows had liaisons with members of the occupying forces. Many American and British soldiers paid for their pleasures in cigarettes, chocolate, and bread.[6]
Polygamy is an alternative to divorce in case of some marital problems. Instead of divorcing a sick or infertile wife, Islam permits a man to marry another woman while taking care of the first if she chooses to stay with him.
The teachings of Islam, including polygamy, conform to human nature. Men and women differ in their desire for sexual variety. These differences are universal. According to evolutionary scientists men are ?hard-wired? to spread their seed. Men everywhere - whether single or married - want more sexual partners than women do. The Islamic solution provides the only responsible alternative to the naturally ingrained desire in men.[7]
There is a universal biological constraint in male and female reproduction. A woman?s reproductive capacity declines after her 20s and ends with menopause, but even a man in his 70s retains the ability to father children.[8] Polygamy is a solution for a man who desires more children, especially in traditional, agrarian societies. This may seem irrelevant in the Western context where childbearing is increasingly becoming independent of marriage. Polygamy is also an alternative for a man who desires to satisfy his natural sexual relations within the bounds of marriage, but whose wife may be averse to them due to age or sickness. Moreover, Islam prohibits sexual relations during a woman?s monthly cycles. Therefore, the prolonged menstrual period of the woman which prevents the husband from having sex with her, or a man whose sexual urge is not satisfied by one wife, may marry another. Islam permits such men to realize their desire within a legal framework, making them responsible for their sexuality, so he does not have to resort to cohabitation or prostitution.
Institutional polygamy controls the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like Herpes and AIDS. Such venereal diseases spread in promiscuous societies where extra-marital affairs and prostitution are widespread. This may be due to a husband?s bringing back the diseases he is infected with in an extramarital affair when he returns back to his ?monogamous? relationship with his wife.
One can clearly see that there are many benefits which result from the allowance of polygamy. Many societal ills are left untreated, if not created or worsened, due to modern restrictions placed on polygamy. One should not always regard their culture and time the most superior in history, but rather they should analyze customs, traditions and beliefs based on solid and tangible facts. When people do so, keeping and open mind and heart, they will draw nearer and nearer to the truth until it becomes clear as the light of day.
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Footnotes:
[1] According to Center for Health Statistics, life expectancy of women in US is 77.9 years, while for men it is only 70.3.
[2] Marriage and Morals, p. 47
[3] The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 17, pp. 34, 270, 244.
[4] Laurel Richardson ?Another World; More and More Single Women Are Opting for Affairs with Married Men, and the Trend Is Diminishing Feminist Progress,? Psychology Today, vol. 20, February 1986.
[5] Clare Chapman, ?If you don?t take a job as a prostitute, we can stop your benefits,? The Telegraph, 30 Jan. 2005.
[6] Ute Frevert, Women in German History: from Bourgeois Emancipation to Sexual Liberation (New York: Berg Publishers, 1988) pp. 257-264 as quoted by Dr. Sherif Abdel Azim, ?Women in Islam Versus Women in the Judaeo-Christian Tradition: The Myth and The Reality.?
[7] Schmitt, D.P., ?Universal sex differences in the desire for sexual variety: Tests from 52 nations, 6 continents, and 13 islands,? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 85-104. The study was conducted by Bradley University psychologist David Schmitt and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, was impressive in its scope: It involved 16,288 college students from 50 countries in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia.
[8] Bruce Bower, ?Darwin?s Minds?, Science News Vol. 140 No. 15, October 12, 1991, p. 233-4.
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An Introduction to Polygamy in Islam
Description: A glimpse of the concept of polygamy in Islam.
By IslamReligion - Published on 25 Apr 2006 - Last modified on 02 May 2006
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Islam is criticized for allowing polygamy, for popular culture in the West views polygamy as relatively backward and impoverished. For many Christians, it is a license to promiscuity, and feminists consider it a violation of women?s rights and demeaning to women. A crucial point that needs to be understood is that for Muslims, standards of morality are not set by prevalent Western thought, but by divine revelation. A few simple facts should be borne in mind before any talk of polygamy in Islam.
Islam Did Not Initiate Polygamy
Islam did not introduce polygamy. Among all Eastern nations of antiquity, polygamy was a recognized institution. Among the Hindus, polygamy prevailed from the earliest times. There was, as among the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians, no restriction as to the number of wives a man might have. Although Greece and Rome were not polygamous societies, concubinage was a norm[1]. Islam regulated polygamy by limiting the number of wives and bringing responsibility to its practice. In fact, according to David Murray, an anthropologist, historically polygamy is more common than monogamy.[2]
Polygamy Practiced by God?s Prophets
The great Hebrew patriarchs equally revered by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, and Solomon, to name a few ? were polygamous. According to the Bible:
Abraham had three wives (Genesis 16:1, 16:3, 25:1)
Moses had two wives (Exodus 2:21, 18:1-6; Numbers 12:1)
Jacob had four wives (Genesis 29:23, 29:28, 30:4, 30:9)
David had at least 18 wives (1 Samuel 18:27, 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:3, 3:4-5, 5:13, 12:7-8, 12:24, 16:21-23)
Solomon had 700 wives (1 Kings 11:3).[3]
The example of Jesus, who otherwise overlooked polygamy, is irrelevant as he did not marry during his earthly ministry.
Marriage in Islam
Marriage is a legal arrangement in Islam, not a sacrament in the Christian sense, and is secured with a contract. Islamic marriage lays rights and corresponding responsibilities on each spouse. Children born in wedlock are given legitimacy and share in inheritance from their parents.
The primary purpose of marriage in Islam is regulating sexuality within marriage as well as creating an atmosphere for the continuity and extension of the family. This is in sharp contrast to growing trends on marriage in the West. In recent decades, there are more alternatives to marriage than ever before. Cohabitation - living together outside of marriage - has greatly increased among young, never-married adults, as well as the divorced. More American women are having children outside of marriage, ignoring the traditionally sanctioned sequence of marriage followed by childbearing.
Polygamy in the Quran
The Muslim scripture, the Quran, is the only known world scripture to explicitly limit polygamy and place strict restrictions upon its practice:
?? 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.? (Quran 4:3)
The Quran limited the maximum number of wives to four. In the early days of Islam, those who had more than four wives at the time of embracing Islam were required to divorce the extra wives. Islam further reformed the institution of polygamy by requiring equal treatment to all wives. The Muslim is not permitted to differentiate between his wives in regards to sustenance and expenditures, time, and other obligations of husbands. Islam does not allow a man to marry another woman if he will not be fair in his treatment. Prophet Muhammad forbade discrimination between the wives or between their children.
Also, marriage and polygamy in Islam is a matter of mutual consent. No one can force a woman to marry a married man. Islam simply permits polygamy; it neither forces nor requires it. Besides, a woman may stipulate that her husband must not marry any other woman as a second wife in her prenuptial contract. The point that is often misunderstood in the West is that women in other cultures - especially African and Islamic - do not necessarily look at polygamy as a sign of women?s degradation. Consequently, to equate polygamy with degrading women is an ethnocentric judgment of other societies.
Even though we see the clear permissibility of polygamy in Islam, its actual practice is quite rare in many Muslim societies. Some researchers estimate no more than 2% of the married males practice polygamy.[4] Most Muslim men feel they cannot afford the expense of maintaining more than one family. Even those who are financially capable of looking after additional families are often reluctant due to the psychological burdens of handling more than one wife. One can safely say that the number of polygamous marriages in the Muslim world is much less than the number of extramarital affairs in the West[5]. In other words, contrary to prevalent notion, men in the Muslim world today are more strictly monogamous than men in the Western world.
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Footnotes:
[1] ?About the only important peoples of ancient times that showed little or no traces of it [(polygamy)] were the Greeks and the Romans. Nevertheless, concubinage, which may be regarded as a higher form of polygamy, or at least as nearer to pure monogamy, was for many centuries recognized by the customs and even by the legislation of these two nations.? The Catholic Encyclopedia: (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09693a.htm)
[2] Cheryl Wetzstein, ?Traditionalists Fear Same-Sex Unions Legitimize Polygamy,? The Washington Times 13 Dec. 2000.
[3] For a detailed list of biblical figures who practiced polygamy, you may visit: (http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/).
[4] Dr. Jumah al-Kholy, ?Ta?addud al-Zawjaat wa Hikmatuhu fil Islam,? (Multiple Marriages In Islam & It?s Wisdom), Journal of the Islamic University of Medina, vol. 46, 222-231.
[5] The most recent definitive survey on sexual behavior shows that 20 percent of women and up to 35 percent of men have been at one time or another unfaithful to their spouses (Sex in Marriage, Little, Brown and Co., 1994, page 105). Another survey shows that adultery is as common among Christians as non-Christians. Christianity Today magazine surveyed its subscribers and found that 23 percent admitted to having had extramarital intercourse. The Lutheran Church: Missouri Synod (http://old.dcs.lcms.org/family/Content%5Cdoc_articles%5C409.doc)
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Go to www.islamreligion.com to look behind those stereotypes which society tells you.
actually that's incorrect according to the Qumran a Muslim can marry up to four wives if he divorces with the first he marries another if he divorces with the second he marries a third and so on and so forth
It actually means "no more than" 4, but not "up to" 4.
A close study of history of that period will make you understand why.
Ignorant? Do you think people of other religions can be better???
yes... and how many wives did David have in the bible? What about Mormans? yes - lots of religions are stupid... In fact they all are... except for Quakers (they are loving, tolerant people)
However it's not my opinion but i do believe that we should respect all religions and concepts and as i know to allow for a mu slam man to marry 4 wives he should treat them in equal so he should be fair; which is impossible Cox if he gave them the same quantity of money surely he'll be unable to offer same love same care....
it is utter wrong thing there was a time during war many of the men were killed so there was no one to take care of there wife so the priest advice the men to take care there neighbor`s wife whose men has been killed in war but the modern men has re defined in very wrongly . if u have any doubt read Quran
Whats wrong with more than one wife. My friend's husband has another wife and they have one the the most stable relation ships I've seen.
Granted there not fully married yet, by law or by tradition. You need to be hand-fasted 3 times before it really counts, right now it's just a temporary marriage. But none the less.... there doing grate, so why can't others?
You said 4 wives,Did you know that these 4 are permanent and he can have 1000,000 of temporary wives in addition to those 4 at the same time.Of course if he is financially &emotionally capable.
1. Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygon where a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries more than one man. In Islam, limited polygon 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 polygon continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (95% 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 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.
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 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:
?Fard? i.e. compulsory or obligatory
?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 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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.
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 can not 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 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.
From www.islamqa.com
1.
Praise be to Allaah.
Allaah concluded His Message to mankind with the religion of Islam, and He tells us that He will not accept any religion other than that. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
?And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers?
[Aal ?Imraan 3:85]
Your backing away from the religion of Islam is considered to be a loss for you, and a loss of the happiness that awaited you, had you entered Islam. You should hasten to enter Islam, and beware of delaying, for that delay may lead to regrettable consequences.
With regard to what you mention about the reason for your backing off being the idea of plural marriage [polygamy or polygyny], we will present to you the ruling on plural marriage in Islam, and then the wisdom and noble purposes behind it.
1 ? The ruling on plural marriage in Islam:
The shar?i text which permits plural marriage is:
Allaah says in His Holy Book (interpretation of the meaning):
?And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) 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 (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice?
[al-Nisa? 4:3]
This is a Qur?aanic text which shows that plural marriage is allowed. According to Islamic sharee?ah, a man is permitted to marry one, two, three or four wives, in the sense that he may have this number of wives at one time. It is not permissible for him to have more than four. This was stated by the mufassireen (commentators on the Qur?aan) and fuqaha? (jurists), and there is consensus among the Muslims on this point, with no differing opinions.
It should be noted that there are conditions attached to plural marriage:
1 ? Justice or fairness.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
?but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one?
[al-Nisa? 4:3]
This aayah is indicates that just treatment is a condition for plural marriage to be permitted. If a man is afraid that he will not be able to treat his wives justly if he marries more than one, then it is forbidden for him to marry more than one. What is meant by the justice that is required in order for a man to be permitted to have more than one wife is that he should treat his wives equally in terms of spending, clothing, spending the night with them and other material things that are under his control.
With regard to justice or fairness in terms of love, he is not held accountable for that, and that is not required of him because he has no control over that. This is what is meant by the verse,
?You will never be able to do perfect justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire?
[al-Nisa? 4:129 ? interpretation of the meaning].
2 ? The ability to spend on one?s wives:
The evidence for this condition is the verse:
?And let those who find not the financial means for marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allaah enriches them of His Bounty?
[al-Noor 24:33 ? interpretation of the meaning]
In this verse Allaah commands those who are able to get married but cannot find the financial means, to remain chaste. One such example is not having enough money to pay the mahr (dowry) and not being able to spend on one?s wife. (al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar?ah, part 6, p. 286).
2 ? The wisdom behind permitting plural marriage
1 ? Plural marriage helps to increase the numbers of the ummah (nation, Muslim community). It is known that the numbers can only be increased through marriage, and the number of offspring gained through plural marriage will be greater than that achieved through marriage to one wife.
Wise people know that increasing the number of offspring will strengthen the ummah and increase the number of workers in it, which will raise its economic standard ? if the leaders run the affairs of state well and make use of its resources in a proper manner. Ignore the claims of those who say that increasing the numbers of human beings poses a danger to the earth?s resources which are insufficient, for Allaah the Most Wise Who has prescribed plural marriage has guaranteed to provide provision for His slaves and has created on earth what is more than sufficient for them. Whatever shortfall exists is due to the injustice of administrations, governments and individuals, and due to bad management. Look at China, for example, the greatest nation on earth as far as number of inhabitants is concerned, and it is regarded as one of the strongest nations in the world, and other nations would think twice before upsetting China; it is also one of the great industrialized nations. Who would dare think of attacking China, I wonder? And why?
2 ? Statistics show that the number of women is greater than the number of men; if each man were to marry just one woman, this would mean that some women would be left without a husband, which would have a harmful effect on her and on society:
The harmful effect is that she would never find a husband to take care of her interests, to give her a place to live, to spend on her, to protect her from haraam desires, and to give her children to bring her joy. This may lead to deviance and going astray, except for those on whom Allaah has mercy.
With regard to the harmful effects on society, it is well known that this woman who is left without a husband may deviate from the straight path and follow the ways of promiscuity, so she may fall into the swamp of adultery and prostitution ? may Allaah keep us safe and sound ? which leads to the spread of immorality and the emergence of fatal diseases such as AIDS and other contagious diseases for which there is no cure. It also leads to family breakdown and the birth of children whose identity is unknown, and who do not know who their fathers are.
Those children do not find anyone to show compassion towards them or any mature man to raise them properly. When they go out into the world and find out the truth, that they are illegitimate, that is reflected in their behaviour, and they become exposed to deviance and going astray. They may even bear grudges against society, and who knows? They may become the means of their country?s destruction, leaders of deviant gangs, as is the case in many nations in the world.
3 ? Men are exposed to incidents that may end their lives, for they work in dangerous professions. They are the soldiers who fight in battle, and more men may die than women. This is one of the things that raise the percentage of husbandless women, and the only solution to this problem is plural marriage.
4 ? There are some men who may have strong physical desires, for whom one wife is not enough. If the door is closed to such a man and he is told, you are not allowed more than one wife, this will cause great hardship to him, and his desire may find outlets in forbidden ways.
In addition to that, a woman menstruates each month, and when she gives birth, she bleeds for forty days (this post-partum bleeding is called nifaas in Arabic), at which time a man cannot have intercourse with his wife, because intercourse at the time of menstruation or nifaas is forbidden, and the harm that it causes has been proven medically. So plural marriage is permitted when one is able to be fair and just.
5 ? Plural marriage does not exist only in the Islamic religion, rather it was known among the previous nations. Some of the Prophets were married to more than one woman. The Prophet of Allaah Sulaymaan (Solomon) had ninety wives. At the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), there were some men who became Muslims who had eight or five wives. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told them to keep four wives and to divorce the rest.
6 ? A wife may be barren, or she may not meet her husband?s needs, or he may be unable to have intercourse with her because she is sick. A husband may long to have children, which is a legitimate desire, and he may want to have a sex life within marriage, which is something permissible, and the only way is to marry another wife. It is only fair for the wife to agree to remain his wife and to allow him to marry another.
7 ? A woman may be one of the man?s relatives and have no one to look after her, and she is unmarried or a widow whose husband has died, and the man may think that the best thing to do for her is to include her in his household as a wife along with his first wife, so that he will both keep her chaste and spend on her. This is better for her than leaving her alone and being content only to spend on her.
8 ? There are other shar?i interests that call for plural marriages, such as strengthening the bonds between families, or strengthening the bonds between a leader and some of his people or group, and he may think that one of the ways of achieving this aim is to become related to them through marriage, even if that is through plural marriage.
Objection:
Some people may object and say that plural marriage means having co-wives in one house, and that the disputes and enmity that may arise between co-wives will have an effect on the husband, children and others, and this is harmful and should be avoided, and the only way to prevent that is to ban plural marriage.
Response to the objection:
The response to that is that family arguments may occur even when there is only one wife, and they may not even happen when there is more than one wife, as we see in real life. Even if we assume that there may be more arguments than in a marriage to one wife, even if we accept that they may be harmful and bad, the harm is outweighed by the many good things in a plural marriage. Life is not entirely bad or entirely good, but what everyone hopes is that the good will outweigh the bad, and this principle is what applies in the permission for plural marriage.
Moreover, each wife has the right to her own, separate accommodation as prescribed in Islam. It is not permissible for the husband to force his wives to live together in one house.
Another objection:
If we allow men to have plural wives, why are women not allowed to have multiple husbands, why does a woman not have the right to marry more than one man?
Response to this objection:
There is no point in giving a woman the right to marry multiple husbands, rather that is beneath her dignity and she would not know the lineage of her children, because she is the one who bears the offspring, and it is not permissible for the offspring to be formed from the sperm of a number of men lest the lineage of the child be lost and no one will know who is responsible for bringing up the child; this will lead to breakdown of families, loss of ties between fathers and children, which is not permitted in Islam as it is not in the interests of the woman or of the child or of society as a whole.
Al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar?ah, part 6, p. 290
Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid (www.islam-qa.com)
2.
Praise be to Allaah.
Marrying more than one wife is a matter which is recommended, subject to certain conditions: that the man be financially and physically able for it, and that he be able to treat his wives justly.
Plural marriage brings a lot of benefits, including protecting the chastity of the women whom he marries, bringing people closer together, and producing a lot of children. This is what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) referred to when he said: ?Marry the one who is loving and fertile?. And it serves a lot of other purposes. But for a man to marry more than one wife by way of boasting and taking that as a challenge to prove himself, this is a form of extravagance and extravagance is forbidden. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
?and waste not by extravagance. Verily, He likes not al-musrifoon (those who waste by extravagance)?[al-An?aam 6:141]
Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn ?Uthaymeen, from Kitaab Fataawa Islamiyyah, vol. 3, p. 205. (www.islam-qa.com)
3.
Praise be to Allaah.
With regard to why Islam does not allow a woman to marry more than one man, the imams (may Allaah have mercy on them) have explained the wisdom of the Lord behind that. For example, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
That is the wisdom of the Lord and His kindness and mercy towards His slaves and His taking care of their affairs. Exalted be He far above anything other than that. His laws are above suggesting anything other than that. If it were permitted for a woman to have two husbands or more, the world would be corrupted, lineages would be lost, the husbands would kill one another, there would be great misery and tribulation, and there would be continuous trouble.
How could a woman be in a good position if she were shared by a number of men who were fighting all the time? How could the men who share her be in a good situation?
The fact that sharee?ah brings the teachings it does is one of the greatest signs of the wisdom of the Lawgiver and His mercy and care.
If it is said, how come men are taken care of and given free rein to satisfy their desires and move from one wife to another according to their desires and needs, when a woman?s sex drive is the same as a man?s?
The answer is that because women are usually hidden behind veils and inside their houses, and women tend to be more even-tempered than men, and less active than men, and men have been given more physical strength and energy which makes men?s desires greater than woman?s and men are affected by these desires more than women, a man is allowed to marry more partners than a woman is. This is one of the things that have been given exclusively to men and not to women, one of the things in which they have been given something more than women, just as they are also favoured over women in that only men can be Messengers, Prophets, caliphs, kings, governors and judges, and go out for jihad, etc., and men have been made qawwaamoon (protectors and maintainers) of women, taking care of them, working to provide them with the means of living, exposing themselves to danger, travelling about in the land and exposing themselves to all sorts of trials in order to take care of their wives.
The Lord is Ever-Appreciative and Forbearing, so He appreciates the men's efforts and has rewarded them by giving them something that He has not given to the women.
If you compare the exhaustive efforts and hard work that men do for the sake of woman with the jealousy that women suffer, you will find that the men's share of effort and exhaustion is greater than the women?s share of having to put up with jealousy.
This is the perfect justice, wisdom and mercy of Allaah, may He be praised as He deserves.
Actually, you conveniently left out the entire story right before and after those verses. The man may marry up to 4 WITH HIS FIRST WIFE'S PERMISSION. Secondly, he must treat all exactly the same and spend equal amounts of time with them. They must be housed in separate houses and kept in just as good conditions as the next wife. Thirdly, the other three should be orphans or widows who need help and have nobody to support them. And last, but MOST IMPORTANT, the Quran states clearly that "it is better for a man to have just one wife, for he can not deal fairly with even one wife"
Did you know that muslims according to the Quran A MAN can MARRY up to 4 wives? AT TH
