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A Historical perspective |
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Polygamy is an established age old institution prevailing
in human civilization from time immemorial. In China Li-Ka
permitted every man to keep up to 130 wives whereas else where
Charlemagne had about 400 wives.
The legendary Indian figures having numerous wives and concubines
is a very well established fact. However before the advent
of the Holy Quran this practice was not only rampant, chaotic,
but also without any order or discipline. Men all over the
world abused this system to the hilt with little or no respect
to the rights of the women they had in their harem.
The Old Testament and the Gospels had nothing in them to put
an end or reduce the ills of this oppressive system, till restrictions
were imposed for the very first time by the Quran on polygamy
in 6th century A.D. Following the suit, by 8th century A.D
the church banned polygamy in totality and ordered the Christian
men to divorce all their wives save one. Consequently thousand
of women were left in the lurch who were ultimately forced
to live as prostitutes and destitute. |
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Islamic point of view |
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The stand taken by the
Quran on polygamy, is often either misunderstood or misinterpreted
by vested interests. Let us now examine what is Islam’s stand vis-à-vis
polygamy. The related verse in the Holy Quran goes as follows:
"And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly
with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice;
two or three or four but if you fear that you shall no be able
to deal justly with them then marry only one" (Holy Qur’an
4:3)
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It is very clear from the above narrated verse from the Quran
that: |
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- Islam exhorts it’s followers to have only one wife
per se; but
- Under exceptional circumstances such as to tackle problems
of orphans, young widows, and divorcees, Islam allows more
than one wife, BUT
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The person taking up more than one wife is obliged to do
equitable justice among all his wives,
- If he fears that he will not be able to do equitable justice
among his wives, he is very clearly instructed to take only
one wife.
- At the same time, Islam restricts the total number of wives
to a maximum of four only.
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The world scenario |
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What happened to the population of the West, at the end of
the World War II, when thousands of dying young army men caused
huge male-female imbalance may happen once again. Even today
there are certain pockets in the world where the marriageable
women outnumber their counterparts. How does any body solve
the matrimonial problem of these extra young unmarried women?
Or think about the plight of all those women who after getting
married, get terminally ill, paralyzed, bedridden or are infertile.
Should they all be divorced and thrown out on the road, so
that their husbands can take another wife. Or a more practical
approach would be to allow their husbands to take a second
wife?
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Injustice to Women |
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The institute of polygamy is always looked down upon as an
injustice to women folks. Is it really so? On the contrary
consider the following salient features, which distinctly work
in favor of women. |
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Polygamy gives an opportunity to the woman to choose a
life partner who has already proven himself as a good husband,
thereby reducing the matrimonial risks.
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It extends practical security to a woman against loosing
her husband (and everything else with him) to some other
better-qualified woman, as it happens in case of monogamy.
- It safeguards her husband from possible adultery and it's
disastrous ill effects.
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It gives a possible way out to a career
minded woman to pursue her career by having a female friend & husband
to share family responsibilities.
- It keeps a check on men from flirting with young girls
and not marrying them on the pretext of their existing marriages.
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Who would know the need of the creation better than The Creator
Himself? We mortal human beings may or may not like certain
ideas due to our own prejudices, but in the end one has to
accept the fact that the Divine Wisdom is infallible. |
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