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Thread: !!POLYGAMY!!--IRF.net

  1. #1
    Question:Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in Islam? i.e. why is
    polygamy allowed in Islam?

    Answer:

    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 (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.
    (*Interesting Note:- As per the 1975 census of India 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.

    3. 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:
    (i) ‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory
    (ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged
    (iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed
    (iv) ‘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.

    4. 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.

    5. 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.

    6. 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.

    7. 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.
    Most women would nto like to share their husband with other women. But in
    Islam when the situation deems it really neccessary Muslim women in due faith
    could bear a small personal loss to prevent a greater loss of letting other Muslim
    sisters becoming 'public properties'.

    8. Marring a married man preferable to becoming 'public property'
    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.

    M.Y.Tonse

    Sorce-irf.net

  2. #2
    Bit Lengthy..

    Might Take time to read...

    Nice Explaination....

    M.Y.Tonse

  3. #3
    polygamy was allowed because frequent war in the middle age less number of males more females
    to carry this pracice now is cruelty towards female
    ban this barbaric practice
    treat females as humanbeings
    u make me happy

  4. #4
    Has the war stopped? Has the number of females decreased? show them the solution, in iraq alone there are more than 2 million widows, show them the way to prevent them from poverty and sex market!

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