Polygamy - Why does Islam allow men to have more than one wife?

Translation of extract from “20 Frequently Asked Questions on Islam” by Dr. Zakir Abdul-Karim Naik. Dr. Zakir is a medical doctor who gave up his medical profesion in order to become involved full-time in religious activities. He aims to explain the basis of Islam and expunge misconceptions of Islam using logic and science. He was the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) Mumbai, India.

1. Definition of Polygamy

Polygamy is a marriage system where one is allowed to have more than one spouse. There are two types of polygamy. Firstly, polygamy, where a man has more than one wife and the other other is polyandry - where a woman has more than one husband. In Islam, limited polygamy is allowed; while polyandry is prohibited.

Back to the original question; why are men allowed to have more than one wife?

2. The Qur'an is the only holy book in the world that states "marry only one". No other holy book on this earth dictates that a man marries only one spouse. This is not mentioned in other holy books such as Vedas, Ramyanan, Mahabharat, Geetha, Talmud or the Bible. The limit on only one wife cannot be found in these other holy books. According to these holy books, one is allowed to marry as many as one desires. It was only later that Hindu scholars and the Christian Church imposed a limit of only one wife.

Polygamy is allowed in Judaism. According to the Talmud, Abraham had three wives while Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygamy continued until Rabbi Gersom ben Yehudah (960-1030) issued an edict that prohibited polygamy. The Sephardic Jewish community who lived in Islamic countries continued the practice of polygamy until as late as 1950 when an Act was enacted by the Israeli Chief Rabbi Court, banning its followers to have more than one wife.

3. Polygamy is practised by more followers of Hinduism compared to followers of Islam.

A report by the Committee on the Status of Women in Islam issued in 1975 mentioned on Pages 66 and 67 that between 1951 and 1961, the percentage of polygamous marriages was 5.06% among followers of Hinduism and only 4.31% amongst followers of Islam. According to Indian laws, only Islamic men are allowed to have more than one wife. Although it is prohibited, followers of Hinduism have more wives than followers of Islam. Previously, there was no limit on the number of wives even for Hindu men. It was only in 1954 that the Hindu Marriages Act was passed, prohibiting Hindu men from having more than one wife. Now, it is the laws of India and not the Hindu holy books that prohibit Hindu men from having more than one wife.

Let us analyse why Islam allows men to have more than one wife.

4. Al-Qur'an allows limited polygamy.

As mentioned previously, the Al-Qur’an is the only holy book on this earth that states “marry only one”. The context of this statement is from the following verse in the Qur’an:

"...then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one..."

(An Nisa' = The Women; 4:3)

Before the Qu’ran was revealed, there was no limit on polygamy and many men had multiple wives; some even had hundreds of wives. Islam has a limit of up to four wives. Islam allows men to marry two, three or four wives ON CONDITION they are fair to all wives.

In the same verse (An Nisa' 4:129), it is stated:

"And you will never be able to do perfect justice between wives...."

Polygamy, therefore, is the exception rather than the rule. Many mistakenly believe that an Islamic man must have more than one wife.

In general, there are five things that are allowed/not allowed in Islam:

i. “Fardu” which is mandatory or required;

ii. “Mustahab” which is recommended or encouraged;

iii. “Mubah” which is allowed or permitted;

iv. “Makruh” which is not recommended or encouraged;

v. “Haram” which is prohibited.

Polygamy falls into the third category of things which are allowed. It cannot be assumed that men with two, three or four wives are truer believers than those with only one wife.

5. On average, women have longer lifespan than men.

Men and women are born with approximately the same ratio. A female child has higher immunity compared to a male child. For this reason, from the paediatric ages, there are more deaths amongst males than females.

In wars, more men than women perish. More men than women die of accidents and diseases. The average lifespan of women is higher than that of men and at any one time, there are more widows than there are widowers.

6. India has a high population of males due to infanticide of female fetuses. India is one of several nations, together with other neighboring nations, where the female population is lower than that of males. This is due to the high rate of infanticide involving female babies in India and the fact that more than one million fetuses are aborted each year in that country when the sex of the fetuses are identified. If this heinous practice is topped, India too will have more females than males.

7. The female population in the world exceeds that of males.

In America, women outnumber men by 7.8 million. New York alone has 1 million more women than men and amongst the male population in New York, a third of them are homosexuals. Overall, more than 25 million of the American population are gays and lesbians. This group of population has no interest to marry women. The population of women in Great Britain exceed that of men by 4 million. German women outnumber their men by 5 million. In Russia, the number of women is 9 million more than men. Only God knows how many women there are in the world compared to men.

8. To limit each and every man to only one wife is not practical.

If every man is allowed to have only one wife, there are still 30 million women in America who cannot get married (based on the fact that there are 20 million gays and lesbians in America). In Britain, there will be more than 4 million women, 5 million in Germany and 9 million women in Russia will not be able to find husbands.

Let's assume that my sister is one of the women who is not married in America. There are only two choices left for her; either marry someone else's husband or become "public property". Those with dignity will surely choose the former.

In Western society, it is common for men to have mistresses and/or extramarital affairs where the women live a scandalous existence and are not protected. The same society, however, cannot accept a situation where a man has more than one wife, where the woman can defend her honor and dignity in society by living a protected existence.

As such there are two choices for women who are unable to find husbands; marry someone else's husband or become public property. Islam stresses that women be placed in a respectable position by allowing the first option and prohibiting the second.

There are many other reasons why Islam allows limited polygamy, but the main objective is to protect the dignity of women.