Woman Between Islam and Western Society
7. Polygamy and Islam
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To have more than one wife is not an ideal in Islam.
It is, in essence, a practical solution to a social
problem.
CONCLUSION
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?
By following the principle of monogamy,
hundreds of thousands of women fail to find
husbands for themselves and are thus denied an
honorable place in society. Monogamy as an
absolute principle may seem pleasing to some,
but events show that this is not fully practicable
in the world of today. The choice for us,
therefore, is not between monogamy and
polygamy, but rather between the lawful
polygamy of Islam and the illicit polygamy of
non-Islamic peoples. The latter system leaves
