Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
8. Polygamy and Islam
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8. POLYGAMY AND ISLAM
IN TERMS of the birth rate, men and women are
almost equal in number. But subsequently, for a
variety of reasons, the number of men in society
decreases, leaving an excess of women. Now the
question arises as to what should be the solution to
this problem. In view of the inevitability of this
imbalance, how is a healthy relationship between
the sexes to be established? The choice for us,
therefore, is not between monogamy and
polygamy, but rather, between the lawful polygamy
of Islam or the illicit polygamy of non-Islamic
peoples.
One of the commandments given in the Qur’an as a
matter of social organization concerns polygamy,
that is permission for a man to marry up to four
women:
If you fear that you cannot treat orphans with
fairness, then you may many such women
(widowed) as seem good to you: two, three or
four of them. But if you fear that you cannot
do justice, marry one only.
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