Polygamy and Islam
The Willingness of Women
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THE WILLINGNESS OF WOMEN
The presence of a greater number of women in a
society is not the only prerequisite for polygamy. It
is, in addition, compulsory that the woman who is
the object of the man’s choice should be willing to
enter into the married state. This willingness on the
woman’s part is a must before a marriage can be
lawful in Islam. It is unlawful to marry a woman by
force. There is no example in the history of Islam
where a man has been allowed to force a woman
into marriage.
The Prophet Muhammad’s own view that “an
unmarried girl should not be married until her
permission has been taken”
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had been recorded by
both Bukhari and Muslim. ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas,
one of the Prophet’s Companions and a
commentator on the Qur’an, narrates the story of a
girl who came to the Prophet complaining that her
father had her married off against her wishes. The
Prophet gave her the choice of either remaining
within the bonds of wedlock or of freeing herself
from them.
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