Is this the real reason Muslims need multiple wives?

Question

when asked, most muslims will tell you that islam allows a man multiple wives because girls don't like sex that much (or some variation of that idea).

now i can believe that girls don't like sex with muslims much, but it has always seemed to me that there is an easier and more compelling line of reasoning.

islam is a war-based religion. (jihad and shahada - holy-war and martyrdom - are both crucial concepts in islamic apologetics).

family-men are war-averse (they care about their wives and children) so a way needs to be developed to have a pool of frustrated bachelors with no hope of marriage in the society.

the easy way is to manufacture a shortage of women by allocating multiple wives to elder (and richer) males in the community.

men with no prospect of taking a wife are meaner and more easily led: the kind of man islam needs.

(sexual frustration is also used as a control technique by dog trainers).

is this better or worse than the authorised version?

penster_x : the historical record suggests christianity is expansionist rather than strictly militarist.
i think one can also make an interesting extrapolation concerning christian hangups around sex. but it would be off-topic here.

X: islam is not a race, only a religion. if islam were a race, it would be impossible to leave it. there would have been no need to make apostasy punishable by death.

No: i suspect you are unfamiliar with islamic teaching. a man is permitted only four wives, but may take an unlimited number of concubines in excess of this. nur jehan had only one wife, but 6,000 concubines. the precise status of the sex slaves is surely irrelevant?

aslam09221: i wonder who recognises islam as the most peaceful religion in the world. i know i don't. the jains are far more peaceful. so were charles manson's lot.

im@home: "polygyny is a very good thing. muslims don't do it. women who are unmarried are worthless."
it is very difficult to know whether your argument is more dishonest, or offensive.

Answer 1

EXCELLENT ANALYSIS. SPOT ON.

Your saying essentially the same thing an article in Psychology Today did. http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20070622-000002.xml

Heres a quote from the article:

What distinguishes Islam from other major religions is that it tolerates polygyny. By allowing some men to monopolize all women and altogether excluding many men from reproductive opportunities, polygyny creates shortages of available women. If 50 percent of men have two wives each, then the other 50 percent don't get any wives at all.

So polygyny increases competitive pressure on men, especially young men of low status. It therefore increases the likelihood that young men resort to violent means to gain access to mates

Answer 2

Well it sounds like you have been let down vey badly from this religion, i too am an ex-muslim, not because I hate the religion, but it was my choice and because i wanted to be more free... Although I am aware that that the teachings of the Qur'an are for guidance and for the good of mankind even though the reasons behind some rules are not understood. I read the reason why Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had many wives was for several reasons out of his control: he once was walking in the forest and he accidentally saw a lady's female parts whilst she was going to the bathroom in the forest and it is against the religion to view such a sight unless they were married, so they got married, as he didn't feel it was right fo rhim to have Another reason was that a woman's husband died and she didn't have anyone to support her in many ways, so he married her as well to support her and her children. He had more wives as well, but he treated them with the utmost respect. In Islam women have a lot of freedom despite what people think, I say that as a lot of the muslim religion come from the third world and the third world have a lot to learn still and I feel it is people who misinterpret and misrepresent the Islamic religion, not the religion itself as God is too kind for that. I feel I might come back to my religion, as there is a lot of logic in it. I also like eating Halal food as the religion suggests is good to do for several reasons - it is a humane way of killing an animal and research has shown that the Halal way puts the animal into a dream state of mind, thereby the animal doesn't feel pain and the meat tastes better and it's healthier for us to eat Halal food as the animal does not release any hormones into it's bloodstream due to pain, so we will not be ingesting this later. So please think wisely about the Islamic religion. It is only narrow minded people who misuse it's guidance.

Answer 3

The fact that Muslims need multiple wives makes the Islamic ideology too foreign to be absorbed into the UK in millions.

It was wrong and unfair on the real British for the government to allow 2million Muslims to settle in the UK

Answer 4

Don't tell us what your wives do when they find you drunk! You keep one in the house and many in the neighbourhood. We know your empty claims!

Muslims don't drink therefore their wives are satisfied with them hence no sexual frustration!

Dear! You know nothing about Islam. Rather your question reflects your fears - Islamofobia!!
Sex is human nature hence Islam has allowed it accordingly.

Islam is recognised as the most Peaceful faith. By the grace of God Almighty ISLAM is the fastest growing religion in the world. I think people like Peace!

Bible: The OT has more verses on killings and Wars than any other Holy Scripture in the World.

Why! "Every thing within the Hebrew Tribal spectrum"? Tell us.....

What about 1000 Wives of Soloman?
What about the 3 wives of Abraham.....
What about the 4 wives; 2 wives and 2 slave girls, of Jakov from which you formed 12 Tribes of Israel?

Awaiting your views in next post soon!

Thanks!

Answer 5

In Madinah, there came a time when many Muslims were martyred in various battles. As a result, many children were orphaned. In this situation, Almighty Allah called upon Muslims to look after these children and guard their wealth and property. In this regard, the already in-practice custom of polygyny in the Arabian society was resorted to. Muslims were told that if they were afraid that they would not be able to take proper care of these orphans, they should marry their widowed mothers.

“If you fear that you would not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry two, three or four of the women who are lawful for you. But if you fear that you would not be able to deal justly [with them] then [restrict yourself to] one only." (An-Nisa': 3)

Three implications of this verse are very clear:

Firstly, polygyny is related to some social need.

Secondly, the number of wives should not exceed four in any circumstances.

Thirdly, if a person cannot maintain balance and do justice to his wives, he must restrict himself to one.

In other words, while in normal circumstances, a family comes into being through the union of a single man and woman, there may be certain exceptional circumstances in which the practice of polygyny may be benefited from with the restrictions mentioned in the above-mentioned verse.

Answer 6

A succinct synopsis of the argument. I could stick my oar in and mention anomalies like fundamentalist LDS practitioners, and the long tradition in China, which though illegal, still goes on surreptitiously. (I think an Oxford comma is justified here.)

Still, since you are doing such a grand job of winding up the credulous of all faiths, I won't quibble.

Answer 7

ive read the same thing in an article in a psychology magazine

the whole angry poor guy cant get a woman so he becomes a radical while the rich old one gets the pick of the litter sounds about right

and to the one who said your racist islam isnt a race so he cant be a racist

Answer 8

In Islam, monogamy is the rule; polygamy (more correct term, polygyny), a very, very strict exception with very, very strict rules and regulations.

Answer 9

Christianity is also a war based religion so why isn't the same true for it?

The Crusades, The many European was in between, The British Empire, The US war of independence, the US civil war, WW1, WW2 (Hitler especially), Korea, Vietnam, Afgahnastan, Iraq!!!!!

Answer 10

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.
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.
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.

World female population is more than male population
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 besides remaining lonely. 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, 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.