have men marry multiple wives, and for this reason polygyny is
practiced by many religions and cultures. Aswe have already seen in
answer to question 2, polygyny is permitted in the Bible too. Here we
will see 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 havefour
wives. Furthermore,the Qur'an stipulates that a man is responsiblefor
the maintenance of his wife or wives. If a man has more than one wife,
he has to provide separate living accommodation for eachof 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,
such activity is not permissible in Islam. A man must divide his
timeequally 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 of his 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
a shortage of men, for example after a devastating war, many women
will be unable tofind husbands. Most women in that situation,given the
option, would rather be a co-wife than no wife. If one maintainsa
strict monogamy in such a 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 muchmisunderstood subject. John Esposito says:
Although it is found in many religious and cultural traditions,
polygamy (or more precisely, polygyny) is most often identified with
Islam 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 the welfare 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 to new
oppression (Karen Armstrong, Muhammad: A Western Attempt to Understand
Islam, Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1991, p.191).
It is unfortunate that theWestern media often gives the wrong
impression of what Islamis 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 about the 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 Zepp, 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
toreconsider polygamy as a Christian option. (See Polygamy
Recon,isideredby Eugene Hillman, New York: Orbis Press, 1973).G
--
- - -
Translate:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_m&sl=auto&tl=ms&u=http://aydnajimudeen.blogspot.com/
- - - -
No comments:
Post a Comment