The Issue of Polygamy in Islam

POLYGAMY AND ISLAM members, and the question arose as to how all these widows and orphans were to be cared for. This was an acute social problem. It was solved by the revelation of this verse asking the people who could afford it to care for the orphans by marrying the widows and keeping their orphaned children under their guardianship. The background and wording of this verse appear to express a commandment that should be only temporary in effect. It applied only to a particular state of emergency when, due to the loss of men in battle, the number of women exceeded the number of available men. However, the Quran, despite being revealed at a particular time and place, is universal in its application. One of the outstanding characteristics of the Quran is that it describes eternal realities concerning temporal issues, and this commandment is typical of this exceptional quality of the Quran. The permission to practice polygamy in Islam was not given to enable men to satisfy their carnal urges. It was designed as a practical strategy to solve a particular problem. One point that needs clarification is that in marrying more than one woman, the initiative does not lie solely with any individual man. There is always the condition—an inescapable one—that whatever the society, the women should outnumber the men. Suppose the earth was inhabited by one billion people, of which 500 million were men and 500 million were women. It would not be possible for a man to have more than one wife in such a situation. A second, third or fourth wife would be obtained only by