Question:
Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in
Islam?
Answer: (BY Dr Zakir Naik) 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?
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 Ramayana,
the Mahabharata, 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 CE to 1030 CE) 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.
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.
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 An 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 An 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) ‘Fardh’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory
(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged
(iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed
(iv) ‘Makrooh’ 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.
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 paediatric 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.
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 foeticide and
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.
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 USA as a whole has more than
twenty-five million gays. This means that these
people do not wish to marry women. Great Britain
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.
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 USA 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, five 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 and
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.