A woman from Chennai challenging Zakir Naik on Polygamy. And for the other people who wants to know why Islam allows polygamy.
1. Definition of Polygamy
Polygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one spouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marries more than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries more than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted; whereas polyandry is completely prohibited.
Now coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than one wife?
2. The Qur'an is the only religious scripture in the world that says, "marry only one".
The Qur'an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase 'marry only one'. There is no other religious book that instructs men to have only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one can marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.
Many Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had several wives.
In earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished, since the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a few centuries ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.
Polygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had three wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny continued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (95% C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an edict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries continued the practice till as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.
3. Hindus are more polygynous than Muslims
The report of the 'Committee of The Status of Woman in Islam', published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that the percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961 was 5.06% among the Hindus and only 4.31% among the Muslims. According to Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It is illegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it being illegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to Muslims. Earlier, there was no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wives allowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it became illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the Indian Law that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not the Hindu scriptures.
Let us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.
4. Qur'an permits limited polygyny
As I mentioned earlier, Qur'an is the only religious book on the face of the earth that says 'marry only one'. The context of this phrase is the following verse from Surah Nisa of the Glorious Qur'an:
"Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one." [Al-Qur'an 4:3]
Before the Qur'an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limit of four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women, only on the condition that he deals justly with them.
In the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:
"Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women...."
[Al-Qur'an 4:129]
Therefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one wife.
Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do's and Don'ts:
'Fard' i.e. compulsory or obligatory
'Mustahab' i.e. recommended or encouraged
'Mubah' i.e. permissible or allowed
'Makruh' i.e. not recommended or discouraged
'Haraam' i.e. prohibited or forbidden
Polygyny falls in the middle category of things that are permissible. It cannot be said that a Muslim who has two, three or four wives is a better Muslim as compared to a Muslim who has only one wife.
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4:24
If Allah is 'Merciful', why did he create Hell?by thearraiyan2,775 views
2. Seven Bay Steeds harnessed to thy car bear thee, O thou farseeing One, God, Sūrya, with the radiant hair.
"O, Bright sun, a chariot named harit with seven hourse takes you to sky" (Rig Ved Book 1, Hymn 50, Verse 8)
Source: sacred-texts(dot)com/hin/rigveda/rv01050.htm
thearraiyan 1 year ago
1. HIS bright rays bear him up aloft, the God who knoweth all that lives, Sūrya, that all may look on him.
“Sun is full of light and knows all the human beings, so his horses take him to sky to look at the world “ (Rig Ved Book 1, Hymn 50, Verse 1)
thearraiyan 1 year ago
The above is the verse of the Holy Quran which shows the way how to speak with the people of different communities. It tells us to speak the common terms between Muslims and non Muslims, that’s why in my previous comments I quoted the similarity between Islam and Hinduism. But here I am in a situation to tell the errors in Vedas, I apologize in advance if its hurts any Hindu’s feelings.
According to Vedas the sun moves around the earth.
thearraiyan 1 year ago
Say: "O people of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with Him; that we erect not from among ourselves Lords and patrons other than Allah." If then they turn back, say: ye! "Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah's will)." (Al Quran: Chapter 3 Verse 64)
thearraiyan 1 year ago
@thearraiyan show me the verse where the vedas says "the sun rotates around the earth"
shricker 1 year ago
C11/11
5. If you like something good on Islam take it, If something is not matching with your views then clarify with your Muslim friends or from authenticated source ( since you are interested in Islam) otherwise leave it. But don’t comment in a rubbish manner (please remember, you commented in the beginning in a ugly manner which I couldn’t expect from the person who have good knowledge on religion)
thearraiyan 1 year ago
C10/11
3. I appreciate you for looking good things on other religions (since you saw this video) at the same time I request you why don’t you ask your fellow religion brothers and sisters not to worship idol and to believe in one god? Later you can come and comment on other religion.
4. During our discussion I maintained dignity but you failed and used some ugly words on others.
thearraiyan 1 year ago
C9/11
As per Bahavat Gita, Krishna married 16108 wives; also Hindus (or Vedanthist - Swamy Vivekananda’s term for who follows Vedas) believes Vishnu had 2 wives Lakshmi and Prithvi. Now it’s up to our believers either they can follow Vishnu and his life (as said in Upanishads and puranas) or they can follow only Vedas which say “There is no image for God”, “Idol worship is prohibited” etc
thearraiyan 1 year ago
C8/11
2. You agreed Vishnu, Ram, Brahma etc are NOT GOD (please explain your fellow religion brothers and sisters if they claim how can you say like this), they are only great human beings and we need to follow them.
thearraiyan 1 year ago
C7/11
Finally here I summarize few points of our discussion
1. You agreed Vedas are the only authenticated scriptures and other scriptures like Upanishads, Puranas are corrupted and not to follow them.
Since you are reading Vedas you may come across the verse like “Sun is rotating around the earth”. Now decide yourself
thearraiyan 1 year ago