Polygamy* in Islam

Polygamy has been practice by mankind for thousands of years. Many of the ancient Israelites were polygamous, some having hundreds of wives. King Soloman (pbuh) is said to have had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. David (Dawood, pbuh) had ninety nine and Jacob (Yakub, pbuh) had four. Advice given by some Jewish wise men state that no man should marry more than four wives. No early society put any restrictions on the number of wives or put any conditions about how they were to be treated. Jesus (pbuh) was not known to have spoken against polygamy. As recent as the 17th century, polygamy was practiced and accepted by the Christian Church. The Mormons (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints) has allowed and practiced polygamy in the United States.

Among all the polygamous societies in history there were none which limited the number of wives. All of the relationships were unrestricted. In Islam, the regulations concerning polygamy limit the number of wives a man can have while making him responsible for all of the women involved.

"Marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one or one that your right hands possess. That will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice." (Quran 4:3)

This verse from the Quran allows a man to marry more than one woman but only if he can deal justly with them.

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was married to one woman, Khadijah, for twenty-five years. It was only afer her death when he had reached the age of fifty that he entered into other marriages to promote friendships, create .alliances or to be an example of some lesson to the community; also to show the Muslims how to treat their spouses under different conditions of life.

Muhammad (pbuh) was given inspiration from God about how to deal with multiple marriages and the difficulties encountered therein. It is not an easy matter for a man to handle two wives, two families, and two households and still be just between the two. No man of reasonable intelligence would enter into this situation without a great deal of thought and very compelling reasons (other than sexual).

Islam want people to be married and to develop a good family structure. Also Islam realizes the requirement of the society and the individual in special circumstances where polygamy can be the solution to problems. Therefore, Islam has allowed polygamy, limiting the number of wives to dour, but does not require or even recommend ploygamy.

In the Muslim societies of our times, polygamy is not frequrently practiced despite legal permission in many countries.

* In this article polygamy has been used to mean polygyny meaning having two or more wives. Islam forbids polyandry meaning having two or more husbands.

The above article is an excerpt from "Who Practices Polygamy?" by Mary Ali
for The Institute of Islamic Information and Education.