I could and perhaps should comment on this issue. But I think that maybe some good soul, of the kind that believe Michael Moore at face value, would accuse me of Islamophobia or something like that. So here you have it, the Islamic thought on women and a rare defence of poligamy from the point of view of women. No jokes, please.
The Islamic point of view on polygamy
(from http://www.islamvision.org/)
The stand taken by the Quran on polygamy, is often either misunderstood or misinterpreted by vested interests. Let us now examine what is Islam’s stand vis-à-vis polygamy. The related verse in the Holy Quran goes as follows:
"And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice; two or three or four but if you fear that you shall no be able to deal justly with them then marry only one" (Holy Qur’an 4:3)
It is very clear from the above narrated verse from the Quran that:
Islam exhorts it’s followers to have only one wife per se; but
Under exceptional circumstances such as to tackle problems of orphans, young widows, and divorcees, Islam allows more than one wife, BUT
The person taking up more than one wife is obliged
to do equitable justice among all his wives,
If he fears that he will not be able to do equitable justice among his wives, he is
very clearly instructed to take only one wife.
At the same time, Islam restricts
the total number of wives to a maximum of four
only. • The world scenario What happened to the population of the West, at the end of the World War II, when thousands of dying young army men caused huge male-female imbalance
may happen once again. Even today there are certain pockets in the world where the marriageable women outnumber their counterparts. How does anybody solve the matrimonial problem of these extra young unmarried women?
Or think about the plight of all those women who after getting married, get terminally ill, paralyzed, bedridden or are infertile. Should they all be divorced and thrown out on the road, so that their husbands can take another wife. Or
a more practical approach would be to allow their husbands to take a second wife?
• Injustice to Women The institute of polygamy is always looked down upon as an injustice to women folks. Is it really so? On the contrary consider the following salient features, which
distinctly work in favor of women.
Polygamy gives an opportunity to the woman to choose a life partner
who has already proven himself as a good husband, thereby reducing the matrimonial risks.
It extends practical security to a woman
against loosing her husband (and everything else with him) to some other better-qualified woman, as it happens in case of monogamy.
It
safeguards her husband from possible adultery and its disastrous ill effects.
It gives a possible way out
to a career minded woman to pursue her career by having a female friend & husband to share family responsibilities.
It
keeps a check on men from flirting with young girls and not marrying them on the pretext of their existing marriages.
Who would know the need of the creation better than The Creator Himself? We mortal human beings may or may not like certain ideas due to our own prejudices, but in the end one has to accept the fact that the Divine Wisdom is infallible.
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posted by Juan A. Hervada @ 11:36 AM
