Is Polygamy Allowed in Islam?

Claim:

 “Woman is not a creature whom man will use as he wishes or dismiss whenever he wants. According to the will of Allâhu ta’âlâ, who wishes people to be happy in this world and in the next, we should set rules for matrimony. Though Europeans have prohibited having more than one wife, many of them have a few illegitimate wives or mistresses.”

Answer:

Polygamy is one of the reasons why European progressives or imitators attack Muslims. The fact, however, is that whereas Muslims marry up to four women, Europeans cohabit with several women. Islam has laid conditions for marrying up to four. Not everybody can fulfill these conditions. For this reason it is limited for Muslim men to marry more than one and it is the lot of very few people. Besides, it is not a command but a conditional permission. It is seen that in places where it is forbidden to marry more than one woman, prostitution and adultery increase.

Its unpleasant effect on women is the main reason which religion reformers put forth why they speak ill of marrying more than one woman. They also say that marrying more than one causes an increase in population. The word that this increase is peculiar only to hot climates and the assertion that sexual power decreases in those whose brains function are ideas incompatible with observation and reason. In fact, when we observe the reasons for the propagandas based on women’s rights and freedom in cold countries that are said to be civilized, voluptuous desires for women appear from under the masks.

Though it is obvious that the imitators of Europe amongst us run after their sexual desires in this respect, their real aim, principle purpose, is to attack Islam; this can be understood from every statement they make. Their idea of giving rights to women or freeing sexual, bestial desires remains secondary; it is seen that they strive with all their forces to annihilate Islam by attacking the rules and even the permissions peculiar to Islam and to bring into their place the immoralities of Europeans and Christianity. See how Ziyâ Gökalp, a very insidious, clever religion reformer working behind the curtain of Turkish nationalism outpoured his venom in his poem “Din ve Ilm” (Religion and Knowledge):

“As long as the woman is incomplete, this life will remain deficient!

So that the structure of familly be suitable with justice,

Betrothal, divorce, inheritance; in these three equality is a must!

As long as a girl is a half man in heredity and one-fourth in matrimony,

Neither the family nor the nation will advance.”

As he attacks the Qur’ân and salât in his other writings so in this poem of his he attemps to blemish Islam under the cloak of women’s rights. The progressives insist on that woman and man should be equal. Why don’t they correct the anatomical and physiologic inequality which Allâhu ta’âlâ has made! A cock directs eight to ten hens. But two cocks cannot stay together in a flock of fowls. This is the same with almost all kinds of animals. People who live on breeding sheep keep two or three rams in the flock and slaughter or sell the others.

Equality between man and woman does not exist in every respect. Woman can influence man only with her attractive power on man. She is always inferior to man in many ways. In every place of the world, woman wants to adorn herself. No matter how much cherished they are, they are in the position of belonging to others like a precious thing. Women, who cannot sacrifice the desire of looking pretty for anything, consider themselves as rewards for men or for those who are chosen from among men. The rights given to them in some countries, for example, their equality with men, cannot remove the defects in their creation. Though man’s brain is bigger and heavier than woman’s, women in villages work as much as or even harder than men. Yet these labours have not rendered them dominant or ruling. It has been declared in the Qur’ân that men are superior to women. Allâhu ta’âlâ has created men stronger than and dominant over women. Parents mostly want a baby-boy. This indicates that man is a support, a power in life, and women is a deficiency. Women, no matter what she does, can have only one child in a year. Here, man’s activity is without limits. A man can have as many children as the number of his wives in a year, and the father and mothers of these children are known. In respect to bringing up children, a man is sort of equal to hundreds of women.

Furthermore, the number of girls born is bigger than that of boys. Wars decrease the number of men more. And sometimes, where men are reluctant to marry, the number of women is thousands more than men. We often read in newspapers that this is so. For example, the report from the daily Türkiye of Rajab al-fard 3, 1393 (August 2, 1973) Thursday issue said:

“According to the vital statistics prepared in the United States, women live longer than men.

“Statistics show that the female population is 2 million more than the male population and that, of the people aged 25 and above, women are more than men.

“According to the statistics of the world population, for 1000 men of age 65 and above, there corresponds 1275 women; in 1980, in this age group, there will be 1500 women for 1000 men, and this unequillibrium will go further because of more increase in the female population. Two-thirds of the women aged 65 and above are widowed, and the ratio of widows to widowers is 3. During 1950-1960, the number of widows made a rise of 17.7 percent, while the number of widowers made a fall of 2.4 percent.

“Again in the United States it is estimated that newly born baby-girls die seven years later than baby-boys among all who die in childhood. The reason is that the possibility of death of the prematurely born baby-girls is 50 percent less than that of such baby-boys. Within the first month after birth, the death of baby-boys is 50 percent more than that of baby-girls. Of the babies that die within the first age, 75 out of 100 are boys.

“During the period of growth, girls grow more rapidly, begin to speak earlier and, up to a certain age, develop more quickly than boys. The ratio of boys to girls who die between the ages of 5 and 9 is 2. Between the ages of 10 and 19, this ratio is 1.45.

“In all age-groups, the number of men who have heart-disease is more than that of women. In the critical period of the ages between 40 and 70, two out of 3 deaths of heart-disease are men. Ulcer, cancer, pneumonia and tuberculosis are more common among men. Women’s cancers, for example, of womb or breast, are more easily cured than men’s cancers of lungs, stomach or prostate.

“May be women catch many more kinds of diseases; but their diseases are less mortal. It is found out that men and women more easily catch 245 and 120 out of some 365 kinds of dangerous diseases, respectively.”

On Rajab al-fard 5, 1404 (April 18, 1983), Hürriyet, a daily published in Istanbul, reported: “According to the official results of the census, the ratio of widows to widowers in Istanbul is 17:4.” This means that the number of widows is four times greater than that of widowers.

Another evidence showing that women are more numerous is that there is an enormous number of women who live on selling their honesty. It is obvious that such women are numerous especially in advanced countries. If a married or single man who cannot help having intercourse with such a woman marries her and spends his money for her home instead of paying it to her for dishonesty, will it be bad? Religion reformers or progressives cannot say, “It won’t be bad, it will be good,” for they want women to remain in a status that would always keep them prone to supersedure. Those who dislike marrying more than one must be those who are afraid that not many women will remain for them to amuse themselves with.

If they say, “Man’s view of the women with whom he has intercourse illegitimately and his view of his own wife are different,” they in fact regard those women who work illegitimately as lowly people who have lost their value. For this reason, they consider the sexual relations of a woman of high rank a much more shameful deed, a scandal.

Women are led to prostitution out of necessity, need or seduction. It cannot be thought of for man because he does not earn but pays money. This also shows that woman cannot be equal to man.

No matter how pretty she is, a woman does not give up trying to be attractive for man. Those with diminished bashfulness turn womanhood into a commercial material. It is seen that woman is more timid than man. This timidity is not because their lust is little, but because they are more capable of concealing their sensations than men are. As lust is more in women, so their bashfulness is more than men’s. Even a woman with diminished bashfulness sits awaiting at the brothel. It is the man who visits her and even pays her. In no place of the world is there a brothel where clients are women and prostitutes are men.

Women’s bashfulness provides them with greater patience and determination. It prevents them from rushing into many heavy jobs. With the exception of communist regimes, where human beings, regardless of sex, are held equal with animals and slaves, although some of them, for the purpose of deceiving Muslims, disguise their administrations under spurious appelations such as “Socialist Islamic Republic’, there is next to no country where women are armed and sent to the battlefield no matter how difficult the conditions are. When men decrease in number, they employ women in supply service behind the front and in easy jobs. In reply to men, who undertake these heavy and risky jobs and who sacrifice their lives for their country and children, such a self-sacrifice as not being sorry for their husbands’ marrying more than one can be expected from women in order to prevent the loss of population caused by heavy industries and wars.

In fact, men’s jihâd against the enemy is compared to women’s struggling with their nafs in the Hadîth:

“Allâhu ta’âlâ imposed jealousy on women and jihâd on men. The woman who believes and endures this task will be rewarded in the Hereafter as if she were a martyred fighter for Islam.” This hadîth points out that women should be patient about their husband’s marrying another woman. The woman will both be jealous and endure this. And this great self-sacrifice has been held equivalent to men’s jihâd. It is correct to hold jihâd equivalent to ta’addud az-zawjât, because the latter causes the population to increase and war causes it to decrease. In the magazine Bayân al-haqq,Mustafâ Sabri Effendi (rahmatullâhi ’alaih) explained this equivalence in detail.

Islam does not command ta’addud az-zawjât, but it permits it. Though it is not sinful not to use this permission, it is a religious duty to believe in that this permission is compatible with social life, knowledge and reason, and to refute those who say that this is not so. Moreover, it is a condition for those who do not want to use this permission not to meet the need of ta’addud az-zawjât in a sinful way. Although there is no one who attempts to use this permission today, religion reformers censure it as the separatists reiterate the combats between ’Alî and Mu’âwiya (radiy-Allâhu’anhumâ) that took place fourteen centuries ago -the ‘fait accompli’ which have been evaluated well by Islamic scholars- and thus caluminate the Prophet’s companions (radiy-Allâhu ’anhum). Such out-of-place and out-of-time discussions serve nothing but sow discord among Muslims and motivate the enemies of Islam. Ta’addud az-zawjât is not a command but a permission. It is written in the Turkish book Ni’met-i Islâm that it is even not a mustahab but a mubâh. It is fard to believe in that it is not permissible to criticize this permission of Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is kufr to deny or dislike this permission, which is clearly declared in the Qur’ân. Let us also add the fact that the husband who, because the laws forbid it and he respects the emotions of his wife, prefers to live only with her will be rewarded in he next world for having done without ta’addud az-zawjât. Islam’s permitting it is intended to protect chastity and to increase the population. If we look carefully at the words of those who dislike it, the thing which annoys them is not marrying more than one but marrying up to four, since they obviously have more than four mistresses and do cohabit. If all brothels were closed and public and private prostitution were prohibited, they would immediately change their opinion; such words as, “Since ta’addud az-zawjât is unnatural, it has not held on among Muslims,” would not be uttered any more and ta’addud az-zawjât would spread by itself.

Marrying more than one could not hold on because of its unsuitability; so it was replaced by prostitution and adultery, which are suitable for civilized men! Is that right? Many men are in a position that will not allow them to deny that they fill the vacancy of ta’addud az-zawjât with illegitimate affairs. Therefore, by tearing the curtains between man and woman, they play with women’s chastity and honour. In European countries where women are given full freedom, men and women are all mixed up. Islam has set an equilibrium between women and men and commanded women to veil themselves in order to maintain the order.

Though the foregoing discussion provides the necessary response to a modernist religion reformer who says, “A man’s marrying up to four women is injurious to women’s rights. One man’s having one wife is the equal and evenhanded commitment of human rights. Ta’addud az-zawjâd spoils this equality and justice,” the following points also will be helpful:

It is obvious that in countries where there is not ta’addud az-zawjât, illegitimacy and prostitution have spread out instead. Then, how can one ever say that pushing women towards prostitution will make them attain a right and an equality? It can be understood that all these clamours are intended to provide men with their amusement under the mask of giving women rights. The statistics show that the number of women in the world is greater than that of men. For this reason, more than one woman corresponds to a man. When women are fewer than men, ta’addud az-zawjât disappears by itself; the words ‘injustice’ and ‘inequality’ will remain without reason. Man, being unable to find another woman, will live with one woman. But, when there are more women and a man cannot overcome his desires, should he opt the legitimate way or the illegitimate way? Here is all the difference of views between religion reformers and Muslims. Is it necessary to close the legitimate way or the illegitimate way? Certainly, it is necessary to close one and to spread and facilitate the other. But which one? It is seen that this difference is based on the difference between being Muslim and not being Muslim. Advancement and progress of Muslims can be achieved by holding fast to Islam. It is impossible to attain salvation by abandoning Islam, which is unnecessary.

Many people argue saying, “While nikâh is performed, every sort of condition can be laid down. The woman can demand from the man whom she is to marry to remain with a single wife throughout their married life and to give her the right of divorce.” These words are right. Islam gives woman this right, too. There is detailed information on this subject in Radd al-muhtâr.

If a man, for the sake of his respect for the emotions of his first wife, should not marry another woman, should he succumb to his sexual desires and satisfy his desires in other places. Should he injure his own chastity and honesty and spoil the chastity and honesty of another woman? Should he sin as much as he wants and deserve the punishments stated in the above-quoted hadîths? Should evil feelings arise in his wife when she finds out these illegitimate, evil deeds of her husband? Should her chastity be injured lest her feelings should not be injured? We wonder if a woman who might hear that her husband cohabits with bad women will not suffer a heavy blow? Will not the effects of being a dishonest man’s wife be added to this? Moreover, if we think about the harm done to the wife’s chastity; its harm to the husband; the harm done to the husband or wife of the woman or man with whom they have illegitimate relations, respectively, and the harm done to the children affected by these offenses, and the health that is risked to venereal diseases, it will be easier to decide correctly and reasonably. Syphilis and gonorrhea spread through promiscuous relations and threaten the whole world. See the Divine Wisdom! Allâhu ta’âlâ has sent the worst, the most dangerous diseases in the actions outside of Islam. The children involved are not only the children that have not been born; Islam’s subtle command rajm (stoning to death) against adultery is the punishment commanded by Islam to prevent the birth of the child that would be born out of adultery as a degenerate bastard and would have no honour in humanity. When the children in the home are smeared with these dangerous diseases, the whole family will be dragged on to death materially and spiritually. With ta’addud az-zawjât, which prevents all these harms, only the first wife is harmed slightly. This harm is psychological but not a harm pertaining to conscience, for ta’addud az-zawjat is what Allâhu ta’âlâ, whom she loves more than her life, permits.

In order to prevent these harms, Islam expects from women this self-sacrifice, which will be rewarded in the Hereafter. Thereby they will contribute to the population increase and help other members of their sex to find a husband. If women be brought up with this sacred, religious education, the uses of which are obvious, the side-effects of ta’addud az-zawjât, which are only to emotions and to the nafs, will disappear. The progressives claim that they are determined to make progress by enduring all kinds of difficulty. While the man is ready to die in war, should not he expect an insignificant self-sacrifice from his wife, since it will rescue the individual, the family and the entire society from a great disaster? Would not it be good if she, instead of having the baseness of ignoring her husband’s habitual, evil, harmful deeds, accustom herself to a useful, noble feeling? They will be helpful to men in their struggles to protect their chastity, and at the same time pay their religious debts in return for men’s sacrifice in warfare.

In the time of the Union Party, Mensûrî Zâde Saîd, the deputy of Manisa, offered the National Assembly to pass a law to prohibit ta’addud az-zawjât. The majority of deputies said it was impossible. The law was not passed. As for the question what Muslims should do in a country where such a law is in operation, Muslims do not violate the laws even if they are in a country of disbelievers. They do not commit any crime. Each of them live with one woman with whom they marry according to Islam and to the laws, with nikâh and a formal registration. Opposing the laws and the government gives way to punishment, trouble and fitna (mischief against Muslims.), which is not permissible. It is declared in the Hadîth, “Fitna is asleep. May Allâhu ta’âlâ damn him who wakes it.” May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect Muslims against fitna and calamities! Âmin.

In the Ottoman Empire, marriage contracts were registered at municipalities or marriage offices, where marriage licences were obtained, and canonical marriage contract (nikâh) was performed compatibly with its principles by a pious Muslim who knew the religious knowledge of his madhhab correctly and performed salât regularly. The quantity of gold money which is called mahr-i mu’ajjal or mahr-i muejjel and upon which the couple agreed was recorded in the licence during the performance of nikâh. Mahr-i mu’ajjal was paid by the man to the woman before the wedding. Mahr-i muejjel was the money he was obliged to pay in case of divorce. If he did not pay it or the alimony for his children to her every month, either an equal amount was allotted from his salary and paid to her or he was imprisoned. Because of the fear of this high compensation, of misery of remaining a bachelor or of failure to marry again, nobody would divorce his wife. In fact, nobody would marry his daughter to the man who had divorced his wife unfairly. Till death, every Muslim led a happy, prosperous life together with his wife and children in mutual love and in peace which formed out of the karâma inherent in nikâh. He was an honourable person among his circle and acquaintances and was given high esteem and credit by everybody.