Why Marrying More Than One Permitted?

Islam is the last and final word of Allah (SWT), ending the series of
His messages to mankind. It therefore came with ageneral lawsuitable
for all times and places, and for thewhole of humanity. It did not
legislate for the city dweller only, while neglecting the nomad, nor
for the cold regions while ignoring the hot ones, nor for one
particular period of time, forgetting later times and the generations
to come.
Islam recognizes theneeds and interests of all people, of individuals
as well as groups. And among human beings one finds that individual
who has a strong desire for children but whose wife is barren,
chronically ill, or has some other problem. Would it not be more
considerate on her part and better for him to marry a second wife who
can bear him children, while retaining the first wife with all her
rights guaranteed? Then there may also be the case of a man whose
desire for sex is strong, while his wife has little desire for it, or
who is chronically ill, has long menstrual periods, or the like, while
her husband unable to restrain his sexual urge. Should it not be
permitted to him to marry a second wife instead of his hunting around
for girlfriends? There are also times whenwomen outnumber men, as for
example after wars which often decimate the ranks of men.
In such a situation it is in the interests of the society and of women
themselves that they become co-wives to a man instead of spending
their entire lives without marriage, deprived of the peace, affection,
andprotection of marital lifeand the joy of motherhood for which they
naturally yearn with all their hearts. Only three possible
alternatives exist for such surplus women who are not married as first
wives:
1.to pass their whole lives in bitter deprivation,
2.to become sex objects and playthings for lecherous men; or
3.to become co-wives to men who are able to support more than one wife
and who will treat them kindly.
Unquestionably, thelast alternative is the correct solution, ahealing
remedyfor this problem, and that is the judgement of Islam:
"And Who is better than Allah in judgement, for a people who have
certain faith?" ( Surah 5: Verse 50)
For this is the Islamic "polygamy" which people in the West consider
so abhorrent and to which they react with such hostility, while their
own men are free to have any number of girlfriends, without
restriction and without any legal or moral accountability, either in
respect to the woman or to the children she may bear as a result of
this irreligious and immoral plurality of extra-marital relationships.
Let the two alternatives—plurality of wives or plurality of illicit
affairs — be compared, and let people ask themselves which is the
proper course of action, and which of the two groups is correctly
guided!