why can muslims have more than one wife ?

Answer 1

hi dawn here's why polygamy was allowed for Muslims.

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 and polyandry is completely prohibited. Now coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than one wife?

2. Qur'an is the only religious scripture in the world that says 'marry only one' 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 religious scriptures like the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta 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 couple of centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.

Polygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had 2 wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah. (960 A.D to 1030 A.D) issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries continued the practice till as late as 1950, when an Act of the chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.

3. Hindus are more polygamous than Muslims The report of the 'Committee of The Status of Woman in Islam', published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66,67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the year 1951 -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 the Muslim. One can imagine what would have been the percentage of polygamous marriages among the Hindus if the Indian government had made it legal for them. 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 woman of your choice in twos' threes' or fours' 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 with them justly. In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says: 'It is very difficult to be just and fair 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 marry more than one wife.

Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do's and Dont's.

(i) 'Farz' i.e compulsory

(ii) 'Mustahab' i.e recommended or encouraged

(iii) 'Mubah' i.e permissible

(iv) 'Makruh' i.e 'not recommended' or discouraged

(v) 'Haram' 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. During paediatric age however, in childhood itself 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, there are more deaths among males as compared to the females during paediatric age.

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 USA 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 more 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 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. I have posed this question to hundreds of non-Muslims and all opted for the first. However a few smart people before accepting, said they would prefer their sisters to remain virgins. Biologically, it is not possible for an average man or a woman to remain celibate throughout life. It may be possible in exceptional cases of one in ten thousand. In the vast majority, the person either gets married or performs illicit sex or indulges in other sexual perversions. Sex hormones are released in the adult body every day. That is the reason why Islam has prohibited monasticism.

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.

Answer 2

God instructed these in the Qur'an:

"
And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice, then only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course.
" - 004.003


Worry about orphans? Marry woman or women you think are good.

How much? Depends, how many you want? You want 2?
You want 3? You want 4? How many?

Note: The Qur'an never stated a 'four wives limit', it just a count to infinity. If it's a limit, then angels are severly limited to four wings, since the same line was used on angels' wings in another surat. If it's a limit, it will make Muhammad look like a hypocrite since he has more than four wives at the same time.

Worry you will not do justice? Then only just one, or if you're so worried,then use whatever you got.

Note: "what your right hands possess" is a translation that is better translated to 'whatever owned blessed/bestowed/given to you'. The right hand in Arabic is said as the blessed/giving hand, while the left hand is said as the easy hand.

Answer 3

most muslims have just one. this was a decree that came about to protect women who had lost their husbands in wars or were widowed by other means. we are talking 1400 years ago. at that time society was very difft. its hard to imagine a woman needing that type of support now. but in some poor countries women still need to be married to ensure that they can survive. their marriage lessens the burden for their family (more food to go aorund if one less mouth to feed) ofcourse some will exploit the islamic ruling - and deliberately go an pitch up at some poverty stricken house - what do u do - starve or marry a man who not only promises to take care of u but will also support your family too.

most muslim marriages are monogamous. Islam clearly states that u can only take on more than one wife if u can treat them equally. i'm guessing this is pretty close to impossible. but some will take it in to their own hands to interpret it as they wish and think that 'hey if i'm allowed more than one - i'll take it!'. pretty sure that first wife isnt treated the same after second one comes along. and nowadays second (subsequent) wife almost invariably means younger, prettier etc. that is NOT Islam - that is pure lust and perversion.

Answer 4

Because there are more women than men on Earth, and because they can have more children at once and it is good for rich muslim men to do this as they have the money to support more children. But if the wife does not want to share her husband, she does not have to. They speak about this before they get married and they agree on many other things too.

Answer 5

Qur'an permits limited polygamy , 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 woman of your choice in twos threes or fours" 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 polygamy 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 with them justly. In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says: "It is very difficult to be just and fair between women". [Al-Qur'an (4:129)]. Therefore polygamy is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to marry more than one wife.

now, in my own words:

Man is a being creted by God to be guided by reason and common sense, while woman is His creation guided by emotions and sentiments. Since being so, women tend to make mistakes in their love lives (falling in love with a ''wrong'' type of guy, often even falling in love with a married guy). As a good muslim (meaning - a person not wanting to disgrace a woman by having an affair with her) will rather choose to have her as a second wife for example, and thus make a respectfull lady out of her in front of the society. So, if one really opens his mind - this is practically a noble deed (i know i'll get thums down for saying this LOL).

hope this helps u to understand

by the way, man can not have more wives unless he is equally just to each and everyone of them - and i don't think such persons really exist - exception is Muhammed (pbuh).

Answer 6

Muslims is not obliged to have more than one wife but it is allowed.
During the world war 2
German Churches allowed the Christians to have more than one wive due the number of women exceed the number of man.

Answer 7

Why do you just say Muslims here? There are societies all over the earth where a man can have more that one wife. There are even native societies (in some south seas cultures that I know of) where the woman can have more than one husband.

Why question societies when they are not your societies, and they do not effect you?

Answer 8

Islam foresaw that there will come a time when the number of females will be so much more than the number of males, and Islam does not allow sexual relationships outside marriage and therefore it permitted men to have more than one wife under certain conditions, but for a man to have more than a wife, he has to be fair and just between all of them.
It is basically a means to prevent women stealing each others husbands, men cheating on their wives and any other sort of affairs outside marriage, especially in times when the number of women will be a lot more than men.

Answer 9

Christians and jews are allowed too..

however, theres not a single verse in the Bible or the Torah that limits a man to a single wife. There is one however in the Quran, in the condition that the man is not sure if he can be fair in treatment to all 4. (you know take care of them, their kids etc)

Thoughts for your inquisitive mind.

Oh, and Chrisitians dont have mistresses?

Wouldnt you rather have a wife than a mistress?

Answer 10

Even in the West, where monogamy is preached as the ultimate virtue in social life, people practise polygamy, the only difference being that while in Islam it is a legalised practise allowed subject to strict if not impossible obligations, in the West it is a random, uncodified inherently immoral practise, which falls within the category of extra-marital love, to wit, adultery

Answer 11

In the west they may have more than one as 'friends in extra marital relations', in religions of the Prophets of the Old Testament, and in Hindu Texts, a permission to have 'declared' friendships was granted. In Islam, it is not a Commandment to have more than one, it is just a permission in the circumstances which are stated alongside the permission clause.