WOMEN IN ISLAM

POLYGAMY AND ISLAM From the above data, it is seen that the ratio of women is more than that of men. When there is a disparity between the number of men and women in society, instead of choosing sexual anarchy, Islam gives the exceptional commandment of taking more than one wife. While the natural way of marriage is between one man and one woman, the way of monogamy, while polygamy is permitted in exceptional circumstances by the law of necessity. It should be emphasized that exceptional laws are exceptional laws, and they cannot be applied in general. THE WILLINGNESS OF WOMEN The presence of a greater number of women in a society is not the only prerequisite for polygamy. It is, in addition, compulsory that the woman who is the object of the man’s choice should be willing to enter into the married state. This willingness on the woman’s part is a must before a marriage can be lawful in Islam. It is unlawful to marry a woman by force. There is no example in the history of Islam where a man has been allowed to force a woman into marriage. The Prophet Muhammad’s view that “an unmarried girl should not be married until her permission has been taken” had been recorded by both al-Bukhari and Muslim (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 5136, Sahih al-Muslim, Hadith No. 1419). ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abbas, one of the Prophet’s Companions and a commentator on the Quran, narrates the story of a girl who came to the Prophet complaining