How does Islam justify marrying four wives?

Question

This practice probably had some justification in the days when Islam was fighting and conquering, creating a shortage of men. But is it acceptable in the 21st century? Does it not make women chattels and sex objects of man, especially he can divorse them at will?

Answer 1

I am not actually quite convinced that being widows and orphans are the right reason to marry them in order to save them from their sad predicament. This is quite an illogical reason to justify multimarraige or polygamy. During wars, we cannot expect only about 20 or 50 or a hundred widows and orphans? There will be thousands. So, it's just beyond my comprehension that if it was really the reason, then why only chose 6 or twelve and leave the rest. In my own honest opinion, help can always be extended to these people without the benefit of marraige because making someone your wife is not a prerequisite to an act of extending help or assistance. That makes some of them fortunate than those who were not chosen or never had the chance to be chosen. Meaning there will always remain grieving widows and orphans. So if widows and orphans are the main concern of those who survive wars, then all of them should be given equal treatment and not only the selected few. Doesn't this logic satisfy or justify the act more than reason?

Answer 2

In the United States of America, having more than one wife is against the law, but women are chattels and sex objects more than any Islamic country in the whole wide world in the history of this planet. Perhaps it makes sense to have this option open. We can not just marry four wives. First and most important rule is we have to be able to sustain them, plus we must treat them equaly. Any one who is married surely knows the challenge here. Before Islam, men like todays Christian Mormons would marry 20 or more wives thus Islam came with the middle path. In the United States of America, and Christian Europe, marraige is on the decline, people are having less kids, and the divorce rate here in America is 60% or more according to statistics. We can not divorce at will in Islam. Every single wife of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) except one who was married to prevent a war between tribes, were widows w/ children who needed a father and assistance thus there is no prostitution, no theft, no drugs, no destruction of civilization. Just to name a couple of people with more than one wife is prophet Solomon with over 1000 wives, prophet Jacob had 2 wives, prophet Abraham had 2 wives, so even though the times are different, humans are human. We should be careful not to be biased when searching for the truth, and even though it is easy to stereo type, it is not really some thing an educated person should do, and there are many other family benefits which should be self apparent and you can study Islamic texts @ www.al-islam.org if you wish. Some women can not get married b/c they have been married before, so now you have a part of the population in depression, taking mental drugs or illegal drugs until they die, but if some wealthy person has a wife but has the capability and consent of his first wife, can take that poor lady in. If you say why not just give money, well, it's not about money only, it is about companionship and not just sex. Sex is only the way we think and don't take things into context.

Answer 3

Quote:

Looking at Islam from Within: Islamic Law is imperiously dismissed as outdated. For example, it is often argued that four wives are allowed at the time of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) specifically because a shortage of men had arisen in times of war. There is little justification for this position: relatively few men were lost in war and there is no historical or demographic evidence to suggest that any significant imbalance between the sexes existed to merit such a verdict. More significantly, the Qur'an in verse 4:3 states that a man is allowed to marry up to four wives, and gives no indication of such a qualification.

The qualification made over in the Qur'an is more judicious: a man is able to marry four wives only if he is able to treat them equally.

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[Waseef Asghar was a former journalist with Q-News International and graduated in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University.]

Un-Quote

Answer 4

in ancient times polygamy was a common practice. Islam just put a limit on it

There were too many women and not enough men. The men would die most of the time in combat. So to keep the women safe (and away from prostitution) men were allowed to marry up to 4 wives. But only if they were able to keep everything equal from property to love. And since you can not keep everything equal God said you should only have one wife

As in the time when the Quran was first given to man if a husband wishes to have a second wife he must first ask the first. I told my husband from the beginning there would be only me.

Just because a man can divorce a woman religiously by saying so does not mean that a wife does not have rights to divorce too just we have to go through the courts. But if the marriage not only has a contract but also a legal marriage license like mine he will have to go through the courts too.

Answer 5

firstly wen u dont know somethin u should not speak on it
secondly all religious questions are not meant to be answered and do not requore a justification as inif u see why did god create humans and earth ?there is no proper answer 4 tat
thirdly the rule says that u can marry a woman to support her family and children and even in tht he has to treat all his wives and children equally and not sequence wise
i have seen muslims wid 2 or three wives but never four and even if 4 i have never heard any muslim leavin his wife
fourthly when the husband is treatin his wives equally atleast he has the right to enjoy his sexual life with them
fifthly 2day its easy to talk rubbish about islam but its sad how perfect are other religions
in islam there are such rules which help human love human and stay together helping each other and even then if u find it wrong then i think there is something wrong wid ur mentality and u should really think about ur appointment wid a psychiatrist

Answer 6

To understand fully, the wisdom behind the Quranic verses and jurisprudence, you will have to refer prophet Sunna or reports. The time the verses were revealed, and the reasons stated at the time. Some of those reasons are the accommodation of widows, orphans and immigrated women. Others are concerned with chastity, as an alternative and antidote to adultery and promiscuity. In Islam the woman marries the man of her choice. She may even marry someone that her mother and/or father objects to. The point is that it is the woman who makes the final decision as to whom she will marry. Once the man and the woman decide that they are interested in one another for marriage, a dowry is decided upon. A dowry is not a bride's price but, it is a gift from the groom to the bride. They agree upon a gift that is affordable by the groom. In the time of the Prophet (sas), often things such as livestock and money were given. This is a wise decision in the event that a woman becomes divorced or widowed, she has some financial security to fall back on even if it is for a limited amount of time. Once the man and woman are married, the man is required to clothe, feed, shelter and educate her (or allow her to be educated) in the same manner as he does himself.
Some people believe that at any time a muslim man can divorce his wife by simply stating "I divorce you". This can lead anyone ignorant of the Islamic ruling regarding divorce to believe that in less than five seconds the woman is left with no husband and is left to care for herself (and possibly children) by any means necessary. The truth of the matter is that Islam has the most humane and most just system of divorce that exists. Firstly, many options are taken and tried before coming to the decision of the divorce. If the man and woman decide that they can no longer live together successfully as a husband and wife, the husband (in most cases, not always) pronounces the divorce by saying "I divorce you". At this point the waiting period begins. The waiting period lasts for three menstrual cycles to assure the woman is not pregnant. This period allows the couple time to think about what they are doing and if this is what they really want to do. There are no lawyers involved to antagonize an already delicate situation. In the case that it is realized, that the woman is pregnant, the waiting period lasts the entire time she is pregnant. During the waiting period (whether the woman is pregnant or not) the man is obligated to provide food, clothing and shelter to the woman as he did before the divorce pronouncement. If the couple carries the divorce through to the birth of the child and the woman suckles the baby, the man is obligated to feed and clothe both his ex-wife for the time the woman suckles (the maximum being two years). After this weaning, the child will be provided for by the father until he/she is no longer in need of support. It is quite ironic that in such an "advanced society" as America, there are divorce cases in which women are being forced to pay alimony to their ex-husbands. Can this and many other things we know about the American system of divorce compare to the Islamic system of divorce?

Answer 7

Islam is a very archaic, backwards religion (but then again so are the fundamentalist 'Christian' sects). Back in ancient times just like you said the many wars left many widows and unmarried young women who could not find a husband due to the fact that so many men had been killed. Polygamy was at that time a means of security for widowed women and a way for men to have more children. But in this day and age with all of our advances in society polygamy certainly is a means of keeping women subjugated by men and should be outlawed worldwide.

Answer 8

If you go to Utah (USA) you will see that Chrisitians have more then 5 or 6 wives and if you go to India, hindu men have couple of wives which they hide and if you go to Europe you might have one wive, 5 or 6 girlfriends and few women at night for fun what do you call that?

Before judging Islam I recommend you check the 21st century?

Answer 9

The custom for men to marry more than one wife is not really a Muslim custom, I think, but more a custom in some areas of the world, that both Jewish, Muslim, Christian and other men picked up on..And also, wheter or not we like it, many men (and women) have a mistress in addition to their married wife, or their heart is far away, or they don't get married, but get intimately involved with many women..Maybe these women are not really in such a different place spiritually than those second or third wives? Most people would like to have someones exclusive love and affection, but I guess the majority live in a reality where they, in one way or another, have to share their partners affection..
Anyway, thanks for an interesting question!

Answer 10

Christianity you can marry as many wives as you like unless you are a bishop in which case you can have only one wife, according to the new testement. Most religions dont have rules on how many wives you can and cannot marry. For Islam to say you can have only 4 is pretty progressive. Anyways how many Muslims have more then one wife?