Woman Between Islam and Western Society
7. Polygamy and Islam
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beard. Seeing him, the Prophet said to me, ‘O
‘Abbas, are you not surprised at Mughith’s love for
Burairah and Burairah’s hate for Mughith?’ Then
the Prophet said to Burairah, ‘I wish you would
take him back.’ Burairah said to the Prophet, ‘Is that
a command?’ The Prophet replied, ‘No, it is only a
recommendation.’ Then Burairah said, ‘I don’t need
your recommendation.’”
8
There was an interesting case of polygamy which
took place during the Caliphate of ‘Umar ibn
al-Khattab. A certain widow,
Umm
Aban bint
‘Utbah had four suitors for marriage. All four —
‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, ‘Ali ibn abi Talib, Zubayr and
Talhah — were already married. Umm
Aban
accepted the proposal of marriage made by Talhah
and, of course, refused the other three, whereupon
she was married to Talhah.
9
This happened in Medina, the capital of the Islamic
State. Among the rejected suitors was the reigning
Caliph. But no one expressed even surprise or
dismay, the reason being that in Islam, a woman is
completely free to make her own decisions. This is a
right that no one can take away from her-— not
