Islam is criticized for allowing polygamy, for popular culture in the West views polygamy as relatively backward and impoverished.\u00a0 For many Christians, it is a license to promiscuity, and feminists consider it a violation of women\u2019s rights and demeaning to women.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 A few simple facts should be borne in mind before any talk of polygamy in Islam.<\/p>\n
Islam did not introduce polygamy.\u00a0 Among all Eastern nations of antiquity, polygamy was a recognized institution.\u00a0 Among the Hindus, polygamy prevailed from the earliest times.\u00a0 There was, as among the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians, no restriction as to the number of wives a man might have.\u00a0 Although Greece and Rome were not polygamous societies, concubinage was a norm[1]<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 Islam regulated polygamy by limiting the number of wives and bringing responsibility to its practice.\u00a0 In fact, according to David Murray, an anthropologist, historically polygamy is more common than monogamy.[2]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The great Hebrew patriarchs equally revered by Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – Abraham, Moses, Jacob, David, and Solomon, to name a few \u2013 were polygamous.\u00a0 According to the Bible:<\/p>\n Abraham had three wives (Genesis 16:1, 16:3, 25:1)<\/p>\n Moses had two wives (Exodus 2:21, 18:1-6; Numbers 12:1)<\/p>\n Jacob had four wives (Genesis 29:23, 29:28, 30:4, 30:9)<\/p>\n 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)<\/p>\n Solomon had 700 wives (1 Kings 11:3).[3]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n The example of Jesus, who otherwise overlooked polygamy, is irrelevant as he did not marry during his earthly ministry.<\/p>\n Marriage is a legal arrangement in Islam, not a sacrament in the Christian sense, and is secured with a contract.\u00a0 Islamic marriage lays rights and corresponding responsibilities on each spouse.\u00a0 Children born in wedlock are given legitimacy and share in inheritance from their parents.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0 This is in sharp contrast to growing trends on marriage in the West.\u00a0 In recent decades, there are more alternatives to marriage than ever before.\u00a0 Cohabitation – living together outside of marriage – has greatly increased among young, never-married adults, as well as the divorced.\u00a0 More American women are having children outside of marriage, ignoring the traditionally sanctioned sequence of marriage followed by childbearing.<\/p>\n The Muslim scripture, the Quran, is the only known world scripture to explicitly limit polygamy and place strict restrictions upon its practice:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Quran limited the maximum number of wives to four.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Islam further reformed the institution of polygamy by requiring equal treatment to all wives.\u00a0 The Muslim is not permitted to differentiate between his wives in regards to sustenance and expenditures, time, and other obligations of husbands. \u00a0Islam does not allow a man to marry another woman if he will not be fair in his treatment.\u00a0 Prophet Muhammad forbade discrimination between the wives or between their children.<\/p>\n Also, marriage and polygamy in Islam is a matter of mutual consent.\u00a0 No one can force a woman to marry a married man.\u00a0 Islam simply permits polygamy; it neither forces nor requires it.\u00a0 Besides, a woman may stipulate that her husband must not marry any other woman as a second wife in her prenuptial contract.\u00a0 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\u2019s degradation.\u00a0 Consequently, to equate polygamy with degrading women is an ethnocentric judgment of other societies.<\/p>\n Even though we see the clear permissibility of polygamy in Islam, its actual practice is quite rare in many Muslim societies.\u00a0 Some researchers estimate no more than 2% of the married males practice polygamy.[4]<\/span><\/a> \u00a0Most Muslim men feel they cannot afford the expense of maintaining more than one family.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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]<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 In other words, contrary to prevalent notion, men in the Muslim world today are more strictly monogamous than men in the Western world.<\/p>\n<\/h1>\n
Polygamy Practiced by God\u2019s Prophets<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Marriage in Islam<\/strong><\/h1>\n
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Polygamy in the Quran<\/strong><\/h1>\n
\u201c\u2026 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.\u201d (Quran 4:3)<\/em><\/h3>\n
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