By: Dr Zakir Naik
Polygamy by Sheikh Ahmed Deedat
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 (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:
v
‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or
obligatory
v
‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended
or encouraged
v
‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or
allowed
v
‘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.
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.
Source: www.ilovezakirnaik.com
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