POLYGAMY

Polygamy means having more than one wife. Polygamy is allowed in Islam, only if a man meets certain requirements. According to Islam, to marry more than one wife, a man

(1) must have sufficient means to provide full maintenance to each wife.

(2) must provide separate place or house to each wife if she asks.

(3) he must spend equal time with each wife.

" In seventh-century Arabia, when a man could have as many wives as he chose, to prescribe only four was a limitation, not a license to new oppression. Further, the Quran immediately follows the verses giving Muslims the right to take four wives with a qualification which has been taken very seriously. Unless a man is confident that he can be scrupulously fair to all his wives, he must remain monogamous. Muslim law has built on this: a man must spend absolutely the same amount of time with each of his wives; besides treating each wife equally financially and legally, a man must not have the slightest preference for one but must esteem and love them all equally." Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Biography Of The Prophet.

Many other religions of the world also permit polygamy. Scriptures and the other sacred books bear abundant proof of the fact that is was recognized as lawful and, indeed, widely practised by patriarchal prophets, Zoroastrians, Hindus and Jews. It is a very ancient practice found in many human societies. The Bible did not condemn polygamy. To the contrary, the Old Testament and Rabbinic writings frequently attest to the legality of polygamy. King Solomon is said to have had 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3) also, king David is said to have had many wives and concubines (2 Samuel 5:13). The Old Testament does have some injunctions on how to distribute the property of a man among his sons from different wives (Deut. 22:7). European Jews continued to practice polygamy until the sixteenth century. Oriental Jews regularly practiced polygamy until they arrived in Israel where it is forbidden under civil law. However, under religious law, which overrides civil law in such cases, it is permissible.

In Islam, polygamy is not considered ideal nor it is compulsory, it is actually 'tolerable'. This means that Islam does not ask a man to have more than one wife, but rather permits it. It allows it because in some situations it is the only solution to a lot of problems. For example, after the world wars, the number of men to women decreased. This lead to prostitution, extra marital affairs and financial problems.  The only solution to such a problem is polygamy.

There are many societies where there are more women than men. In such cases the solutions are either female infanticide (which is still practiced in many societies!) or polygamy. The latter is permitted, whereas the former is strictly prohibited and condemned in Islam. In USA, there is a severe imbalance of sex ratio in the Black community. Most black males die very young and many of them are either in jail or are unemployed. As a result, many black women are either single mothers or they have affairs with married man. In most of such cases the wife of the man is not aware of the affairs.

It is ironical that many countries in the world ban polygamy, yet allow prostitution, mistresses and extra marital affairs, which not only involve cheating on the spouse, they may also lead to diseases like AIDS and gonorrhoea. So are we, the civilized people of the world, encouraging dishonesty and deceit?

It is interesting to note that very few muslim men have more than one wife (I personally have never come across one) whereas many western men are involved in extra marital affairs. A lot of people may find the idea of polygamy ridiculous and disgusting, but sometimes it is the only solution for a lot of problems.