Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
8. Polygamy and Islam
~ 182 ~
Medina was not one which existed only at a
particular point in time. It is a situation which had
almost always been prevalent throughout the
entire world. That situation of emergency is, in
fact, the general situation of mankind. This
commandment is yet another proof of God’s
omniscience. His commandment, seemingly
elicited by an emergency, became an eternal
commandment for the whole of our world.
THE INEQUALITY IN NUMBERS
Records show that male and female births are
almost equal in number. But a study of mortality
shows that the rate is higher for men than for
women. This disparity is in evidence from early
childhood to extreme old age. According to the
Encyclopaedia Britannica:
“In general, the risk of
death at any given age is less for females than for
males.”
151
The proportionately higher numbers of women in
society can be traced to a variety of causes. For
instance, when war breaks out, the majority of the
casualties are men. In the First World War (1914-
18) about 8 million soldiers were killed. Most of the
