W3-The Wisdom Behind Prophet's (saw) Marriages(Ruling of Plural Marriages)

Wisdom-3

· Allah says in His Book (interpretation of the meaning)

“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then you marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice” [Al-Nisa’ 4:3]

· It should be noted that there are conditions attached to plural marriages

· Justice or fairness

· The ability to spend on one’s wives

The wisdom behind permitting plural marriages

· Plural marriage helps to increase the numbers of the ummah (nation, Muslim community).

· It is known that the numbers can only be increased through marriage, and the number of offspring gained through plural marriage will be greater than that achieved through marriage to one wife.

· Statistics show that the number of women is greater than the number of men
· If each were to marry just one woman, this would mean that some women would be left without a husband,

· Which would have a harmful effect on her and on society

· Men are exposed to incidents that may end their lives, for they work in dangerous professions.

· They are the soldiers who fight in battle, and more men may die than women.

· This is one of the things that raise the percentage of husbandless women, and the only solution to this problem is plural marriage

· There are some men who may have strong physical desires, for whom one wife is not enough.

· If the door is closed to such a man and he is told, you are not allowed more than one wife,

· This will cause great hardship to him, and his desire may find outlets in forbidden ways.

· Plural marriage does not exist only in the Islamic religion, rather it was known among the previous nations.

· Some of the Prophets were married to more than one woman.

· The Prophet of Allah Sulaymaan (Solomon) had ninety wives. At the time of the Prophet (saws) there were some men who became Muslims who had eight or five wives.

· The Prophet (saws) told them to keep four wives and to divorce the rest.

· A wife may be barren, or she may not meet her husband’s needs, or he may be unable to have intercourse with her because she is sick.

· A husband may long to have children, which is legitimate desire, and he may want to have a sex life within marriage, which is something permissible, and the only way is to marry another wife.

· It is only fair for the wife to agree to remain his wife and to allow him to marry another.

· A woman may be one of the man’s relatives and to have no one to look after her, and she is unmarried or a widow whose husband has died

· The man may think that the best thing to do for her is to include her in his housewife along with his first wife, so that he will both keep her chaste and spend on her.

· This is better for her than leaving her alone and being content only to spend on her.

· There are other shar’i interests that call for plural marriages, such as strengthening the bonds between families, or strengthening the bonds between a leader and some of his people or group,

· He may think that one of the ways of achieving this aim is to become related to them through marriage, even if that is through plural marriage.

Objection

· Some people may object and say that plural marriage means having co-wives in one house, and that disputes and enmity that may arise between co-wives will have an effect on the husband, children and other

· This is harmful and should be avoided, and the only way to prevent that is to ban plural marriage.

Response to the Objection

· The response to that is that family arguments may occur even when there is only one wife, and they may not even happen when there is more than one wife, as wee see in real life.

· Even if we assume that there may be more arguments than in a marriage to one wife, even if we accept that they may be harmful and bad, the harm is outweighed by the many good things in a plural marriage.

· Life is not entirely bad or entirely good, but what everyone hopes is that the good will outweigh the bad, and this principle is what applies in the permission of plural marriage.

Another objection

· If we allow men to have plural wives, why are women not allowed to have multiple husbands, why does a woman not have the right to marry more than one man?

Response to this Objection

· There is no point in giving a woman the right to marry multiple husbands, rather that is beneath her dignity and she would not know the lineage of her children, because she is the one bears the offspring

· It is not permissible for the offspring to be formed from the sperm of a number of men lest the lineage of the child be lost and no one will know who is responsible for bringing up the child

· This will lead to breakdown of families, loss of ties between fathers and children, which is not permitted in Islam as it is not in the interests of the woman or of the child or of society as a whole.