more info on marriage and four wives

Submitted by ahmadzafire (United States), Jan 15, 2007 at 23:42

taken from: http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/spot_full_story.asp?service_id=795

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 (up till four wives) is permitted; whereas polyandry is completely prohibited.Qur'an is the only religion on the face of the earth that allows men having up till four wives, Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:Before the Qur'an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and many men had many 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.
So, Islam came to control having an infinite number of wives, like it was during the Pre-Islamic era. Hence, Islam does allow having more than one wife, yet it has set conditions for that, which is that the husband should be fair with all his wives, and treat them equally, which is very difficult.

Multiple marriages lay a heavy responsibility on men, which is why Allah allowed having more than one wife only if the husband treats his wives equally. If a man has more than one wife, he must treat them all in an equal manner, emotionally and financially. For example, he has to provide separate living accommodation for each of his wives. Since it is very difficult to be just with all wives, in practice, most of the Muslim men do not have more than one wife.

Therefore polygyny is not a rule or an order but an exception. Many people are under the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one wife. The reason for multiple wives in Islam was not to satisfy men's desire and that's it, but for the welfare of the widows and the orphans of the wars. During war times, many women are unable to find husbands, and they might prefer to be a co-wife than no wife.

Also allowing multiple marriages is useful in case a man's wife is sterilized and can't give him the chance of being a father; here he has the right to marry another wife, and leaving the choice to her whether she wants to continue being his wife if he marries another woman or not. However men are prohibited from cheating on their wives, meaning a man can't marry another woman without the knowledge of his wife. He should tell her, for she might refuse such situation, and in this case it's totally her right if she asked for divorce.

The Quran says We can marry one,two,three or four women but must be just with them and treat them the same and if we cant marry only one. which in my veiw to marry more than one women is very hard to do. Its hard enough to take care of and the demands of one women.

And as with your little hate schools...believe me you are watching and believing too much news and media. Yes i'm aware it goes on somewhere in the world, but at the same times there are many others who run hatred idea through women,children and men heads and theyre not muslim. Do more reseach and see who the real threat is. Not muslim or islam but the extremist is your enemy.

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