Why does the Qur'an allow Muslim men to have four wives?

There are some situations in which it is advantageous to society to
have men marry multiple wives, and for this reason polygyny is
practiced by many religions and cultures. As we have already seen in
answer to question 2, polygyny is permitted in the Bible too. Here we
willsee that the Qur'an permits only a restricted and limited form of
that practice. Only 2% of Muslim marriages are of this nature.
Notice that the Qur'an permits but does not command a man to have four
wives. Furthermore, the Qur'an stipulates that a man is responsible
for the maintenance of his wife or wives. If a man has more than one
wife, he has to provide separate living accommodation for each of his
wives. Multiple marriages are a heavy responsibility on the male. It
is not a pleasure trip as some people may assume. Some even imagine
all kinds of sexual exploits involving a man and his wives altogether.
However, suchactivity is not permissible in Islam. A man must divide
his time equally among his wives. He may,for example, spend one night
with each wife on a rotating schedule. If a man cannot maintain
justice in the treatment ofhis wives, the Qur'an stipulates that he is
to have no more than one wife.
Polygyny provides a solution to some of life's problems. When there is
ashortage of men, for example after a devastating war, many women will
be unable to find husbands. Most women in that situation, given the
option, would rather be a co-wife than no wife. If one maintains a
strict monogamy in sucha situation, moral depravity is bound to
result.
It may be useful at this point to see what some non- Muslim writers
are now saying on this much misunderstood subject. John Esposito says:
Although it is found in many religious and cultural traditions,
polygamy (or more precisely, polygyny) is most often identified
withIslam in the minds of Westerners. In fact, the Qur'an and Islamic
Law sought to control and regulate the number of spouses rather than
give free license. (John Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path, Oxford
University, 1988, p.97).
Esposito then goes on to explain that in a society which allowed men
an unlimited number of wives, Islam limited the number of wives to
four. Then he continued to say:
The Qur'an permits a man to marry up to four wives,provided he can
support and treat them all equally.Muslims regard this Qur'anic
command as strengthening the status of women and the family for it
sought to ensure thewelfare of single women and widows in a society
whose male population was diminished by warfare, and to curb
unrestricted polygamy (John Esposito: Islam the Straight Path, p.97).
Karen Armstrong explains much the same in her book entitled Muhammad:
A Western Attempt to Understand Islam. She says:
We have to see the ruling about polygamy in context. In
seventh-century Arabia, when a man could have as many wives as he
chose, to prescribe only four was a limitation, not a license tonew
oppression (Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: AWestern Attempt to Understand
Islam, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1991, p.191).
It is unfortunate that the Western media often gives the wrong
impression of what Islam is all about. Karen Armstrong writes:
Popular films like Harem give an absurd and inflated picture of the
sexual life of the Muslim sheikh which reveals more about Western
fantasy than it does aboutthe reality (p.190).
Some people incorrectly assume that because of this ruling most Muslim
men would have four wives. However, as Huston Smith points
out,"multiple wives are seldom found in Islam today" (The World's
Religions, p. 252). Ira Zep p, Jr. says that "less than 2% of Muslim
marriages are polygamous" (A Muslim Primer, p.180).
About this being a solution for the problem of surplus women, Ira
Zepp, Jr. comments on page 181 of his book:
The Roman Catholic Church is facing the same problem today in parts of
Africa. Social and economic reasons are forcing the Church to
reconsider polygamy as a Christian option. (See Polygamy
Recon,isidered by Eugene Hillman, New York: Orbis Press, 1973).

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