What does Islam say about Polygamy?
The religion of Islam was revealed for all societies and all times and so accommodates widely different social requirements. Circumstances may warrant the taking of another wife but the right is granted, according t the Qur’an, only on the condition that the husband is scrupulously fair. No woman can be forced into this kind of marriage contract. Polygamy is neither mandatory, nor encouraged, but merely permitted. Images of “sheikhs with harems are not consistent with Islam, as a man is only allowed at most four wives only if he can fulfill the stringent conditions of treating each fairly and providing each with separate housing etc. Permission to practice polygamy is not associated with mere satisfaction of passion. It is rather associated with compassion towards widows and orphans. It was the Qur’an that limited and put conditions on the practice of polygamy among the Arabs, who had as many as ten or more wives and considered them “property.” It is both honest and accurate to say tha
