Does Quran permit muslims to have many wives nowadays?

Submitted by zuma (Singapore), May 5, 2012 at 21:09

Sadar,Both Prophet Solomon as mentioned in Sahih Bukhari, book of Nikah 3:110 and the (Exalted Messenger) in Bukhari, Book of Nikah 3:52 had many wives and that led to them to have sex to many women. From the Quran's point of view is justifiable since at least they had all the women to be their wives as mentioned in Sahih Bukhari, Book #62, Hadith #4, "...Whoever among you can marry, should marry, because it helps him...(...from committing illegal sexual intercourse etc.)..."

However, would this be justifiable to have so many wives to be in this modern days? Even so, it might not be justifiable or permitted by state and even the burden, such as, the cost of living and etc., that a person has to support many wives.

Quran only restricts one wife is enough if that muslim could not do justly with many wives. Let's meditate carefully the verse below:

An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #3, "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 NOT BE ABLE TO DEAL JUSTLY (WITH THEM), then ONLY ONE or or (the slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice."

As the phrase, if you fear that you shall not deal justly (with them ) is mentioned in An-Nisa, Chapter #4, Verse #3 with the phrase, then only one, Quran only restricts a muslim to have a wife if he fears that he could not deal justly with many wives. Nowadays all muslim women are educated. To have more than one wife, other wives would not be happy and would have jeolousy or unhappiness with you, how could you as a muslim have more than one wife to deal justly with them? In the ancient days, it could be possible to have many wife without jeolousy and unhappiness due to women were not educated in the past. In order to deal justly with women, you should ask your wife to find out whether she permits you to have many wives. If she or more women disallow, how could you deal justly with them? Thus, only one wife is permissible from the Quran's point of view.

Take note of the phrase, if you fear that you shall not deal justly (with them ), as mentioned above.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".