Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly: we praise Allaah for having guided you to Islam,
and we ask Him to increase you in guidance and piety
(taqwa).
Allaah concluded His Message to mankind with the religion
of Islam, and He tells us that He will not accept any
religion other than that. Allaah says (interpretation of
the meaning):
“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will
never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be
one of the losers”
[Aal ‘Imraan 3:85]
Again in Surah Al Maidah(5:3) We are told by the Most High
" This day, I have perfected your religion for
you,completed My favour upon you,and have chosen for you
Islam as your religion."
let us now look at the ruling on plural marriage (polygamy
or polygyny)in Islam, and then the wisdom and noble
purposes behind it.
1 – The ruling on plural marriage in Islam:
The shar’i text which permits plural marriage is:
Allaah says in His Holy Book (interpretation of the
meaning):
“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 (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer
to prevent you from doing injustice”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
This is a Qur’aanic text which shows that plural marriage
is allowed. According to Islamic sharee’ah, a man is
permitted to marry one, two, three or four wives, in the
sense that he may have this number of wives at one time. It
is not permissible for him to have more than four. This was
stated by the mufassireen (commentators on the Qur’aan) and
fuqaha’ (jurists), and there is consensus among the Muslims
on this point, with no differing opinions.
It should be noted that there are conditions attached to
plural marriage:
1 – Justice or fairness.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly
(with them), then only one”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
This aayah is indicates that just treatment is a condition
for plural marriage to be permitted. If a man is afraid
that he will not be able to treat his wives justly if he
marries more than one, then it is forbidden for him to
marry more than one. What is meant by the justice that is
required in order for a man to be permitted to have more
than one wife is that he should treat his wives equally in
terms of spending, clothing, spending the night with them
and other material things that are under his control.
With regard to justice or fairness in terms of love, he is
not held accountable for that, and that is not required of
him because he has no control over that. This is what is
meant by the verse,
“You will never be able to do perfect justice between wives
even if it is your ardent desire”
[al-Nisa’ 4:129 – interpretation of the meaning].
2 – The ability to spend on one’s wives:
The evidence for this condition is the verse:
“And let those who find not the financial means for
marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allaah enriches them
of His Bounty”
[al-Noor 24:33 – interpretation of the meaning]
In this verse Allaah commands those who are able to get
married but cannot find the financial means, to remain
chaste. One such example is not having enough money to pay
the mahr (dowry) and not being able to spend on one’s wife.
(al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar’ah, part 6, p. 286).
2 – The wisdom behind permitting plural marriage
1 – Plural marriage helps to increase the numbers of the
ummah (nation, Muslim community). It is known that the
numbers can only be increased through marriage, and the
number of offspring gained through plural marriage will be
greater than that achieved through marriage to one wife.
Wise people know that increasing the number of offspring
will strengthen the ummah and increase the number of
workers in it, which will raise its economic standard – if
the leaders run the affairs of state well and make use of
its resources in a proper manner. Ignore the claims of
those who say that increasing the numbers of human beings
poses a danger to the earth’s resources which are
insufficient, for Allaah the Most Wise Who has prescribed
plural marriage has guaranteed to provide provision for His
slaves and has created on earth what is more than
sufficient for them. Whatever shortfall exists is due to
the injustice of administrations, governments and
individuals, and due to bad management. Look at China, for
example, the greatest nation on earth as far as number of
inhabitants is concerned, and it is regarded as one of the
strongest nations in the world, and other nations would
think twice before upsetting China; it is also one of the
great industrialized nations. Who would dare think of
attacking China, I wonder? And why?
2 – Statistics show that the number of women is greater
than the number of men; if each man were to marry just one
woman, this would mean that some women would be left
without a husband, which would have a harmful effect on her
and on society:
The harmful effect is that she would never find a husband
to take care of her interests, to give her a place to live,
to spend on her, to protect her from haraam desires, and to
give her children to bring her joy. This may lead to
deviance and going astray, except for those on whom Allaah
has mercy.
With regard to the harmful effects on society, it is well
known that this woman who is left without a husband may
deviate from the straight path and follow the ways of
promiscuity, so she may fall into the swamp of adultery and
prostitution – may Allaah keep us safe and sound – which
leads to the spread of immorality and the emergence of
fatal diseases such as AIDS and other contagious diseases
for which there is no cure. It also leads to family
breakdown and the birth of children whose identity is
unknown, and who do not know who their fathers are.
Those children do not find anyone to show compassion
towards them or any mature man to raise them properly. When
they go out into the world and find out the truth, that
they are illegitimate, that is reflected in their
behaviour, and they become exposed to deviance and going
astray. They may even bear grudges against society, and who
knows? They may become the means of their country’s
destruction, leaders of deviant gangs, as is the case in
many nations in the world.
3 – Men are exposed to incidents that may end their lives,
for they work in dangerous professions. They are the
soldiers who fight in battle, and more men may die than
women. This is one of the things that raise the percentage
of husbandless women, and the only solution to this problem
is plural marriage.
4 – There are some men who may have strong physical
desires, for whom one wife is not enough. If the door is
closed to such a man and he is told, you are not allowed
more than one wife, this will cause great hardship to him,
and his desire may find outlets in forbidden ways.
In addition to that, a woman menstruates each month, and
when she gives birth, she bleeds for forty days (this
post-partum bleeding is called nifaas in Arabic), at which
time a man cannot have intercourse with his wife, because
intercourse at the time of menstruation or nifaas is
forbidden, and the harm that it causes has been proven
medically. So plural marriage is permitted when one is able
to be fair and just.
5 – Plural marriage does not exist only in the Islamic
religion, rather it was known among the previous nations.
Some of the Prophets were married to more than one woman.
The Prophet of Allaah Sulaymaan (Solomon) had ninety wives.
At the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him), there were some men who became Muslims who
had eight or five wives. The Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) told them to keep four wives and to
divorce the rest.
6 – A wife may be barren, or she may not meet her husband’s
needs, or he may be unable to have intercourse with her
because she is sick. A husband may long to have children,
which is a legitimate desire, and he may want to have a sex
life within marriage, which is something permissible, and
the only way is to marry another wife. It is only fair for
the wife to agree to remain his wife and to allow him to
marry another.
7 – A woman may be one of the man’s relatives and have no
one to look after her, and she is unmarried or a widow
whose husband has died, and the man may think that the best
thing to do for her is to include her in his household as a
wife along with his first wife, so that he will both keep
her chaste and spend on her. This is better for her than
leaving her alone and being content only to spend on her.
8 – There are other shar’i interests that call for plural
marriages, such as strengthening the bonds between
families, or strengthening the bonds between a leader and
some of his people or group, and he may think that one of
the ways of achieving this aim is to become related to them
through marriage, even if that is through plural marriage.
Objection:
Some people may object and say that plural marriage means
having co-wives in one house, and that the disputes and
enmity that may arise between co-wives will have an effect
on the husband, children and others, and this is harmful
and should be avoided, and the only way to prevent that is
to ban plural marriage.
Response to the objection:
The response to that is that family arguments may occur
even when there is only one wife, and they may not even
happen when there is more than one wife, as we see in real
life. Even if we assume that there may be more arguments
than in a marriage to one wife, even if we accept that they
may be harmful and bad, the harm is outweighed by the many
good things in a plural marriage. Life is not entirely bad
or entirely good, but what everyone hopes is that the good
will outweigh the bad, and this principle is what applies
in the permission for plural marriage.
Moreover, each wife has the right to her own, separate
accommodation as prescribed in Islam. It is not permissible
for the husband to force his wives to live together in one
house.
Another objection:
If we allow men to have plural wives, why are women not
allowed to have multiple husbands, why does a woman not
have the right to marry more than one man?
Response to this objection:
There is no point in giving a woman the right to marry
multiple husbands, rather that is beneath her dignity and
she would not know the lineage of her children, because she
is the one who bears the offspring, and it is not
permissible for the offspring to be formed from the sperm
of a number of men lest the lineage of the child be lost
and no one will know who is responsible for bringing up the
child; this will lead to breakdown of families, loss of
ties between fathers and children, which is not permitted
in Islam as it is not in the interests of the woman or of
the child or of society as a whole.
Al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar’ah, part 6, p. 290
And because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) married more than one wife, and Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Indeed in the Messenger of Allaah (Muhammad) you have a
good example to follow”
[al-Ahzaab 33:21]
One of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) said, “As for me, I will not eat
meat,” and another said, “As for me I will pray and never
sleep”; another said, “As for me I will fast and never
break my fast,” and another said: “As for me, I will never
marry women.” When news of that reached him, the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) addressed the
people. He praised Allaah then he said: “You are the ones
who said such and such. As for me, by Allaah, I fear Allaah
more than you do, but I fast and I break my fast, I pray
and I sleep, and I marry women. Whoever turns away from my
Sunnah has nothing to do with me.” These great words of the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) include
both marriage to one woman and plural marriage.
Majallat al-Balaagh, issue no. 1015; Fataawa ‘Ulama
al-Balad al-Haraam, p. 386.
--- Jane Warner <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Brother
Habib,
>
> Well, no -- actually I'm a secretary working at the
> University. But I am
> married into a wonderful Gambian family and trying to
> learn and understand
> as much as I can about my adopted culture and faith. The
> differences as
> compared to my origins are so striking, and yet there are
> so many
> subtleties. It gives me plenty to think about!
>
> best regards,
> Jane
>
>
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
>
> Jane Zainab Warner-Tholley
> OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
> 101 Gerberding Hall, Box 351260
> University of Washington
> Seattle, Washington 98195
> tel 206-543-4150
> fax 206-543-0779
>
>
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
>
> On Mon, 1 Mar 2004, Habib Ghanim wrote:
>
> >
> > It looks like someone is doing a university research on
> Gambian women here
> > !1 am I right?
> >
> > habib
> >
> >
> >
> > >From: Jane Warner
> > >Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
> > >To: [log in to unmask]
> > >Subject: Re: question
> > >Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2004 08:49:45 -0800
> > >
> > >This question has elicited a lot of fascinating
> information and I'm very
> > >interested by everyone's responses .
> > >
> > >I wonder under what conditions Gambian women, in the
> current or in past
> > >generations, have felt content with a marriage with
> co-wives? There was
> > >mention that rates of polygamy go down as education
> goes up. This doesn't
> > >seem surprising to me. Yet, when you look at marriage
> in US society, it
> > >is often not very edifying, what with conflict, abuse,
> neglect and
> > >abandonment being all too common. Perhaps our divorce
> rate is just
> > >polygamy in another guise?
> > >
> > >In the minds of most Americans, I think polygamy could
> be a synonym for
> > >sexual infidelity. But what interests me about it is
> how it relates to
> > >traditions, both Islamic and cultural, and if it holds
> a key to the proper
> > >provision of the needs of men, women and children
> living in a community.
> > >
> > >From my limited experience, it has seemed to me that
> relations
> > >between Gambian men and women are marked by a degree
> of formality and
> > >separation. I have wondered if that structure (if
> that is what it is)
> > >has something to teach us in the US, where I think
> men/woman relations are
> > >often characterized by suspicion and neediness, even
> to the point of
> > >contempt. I also think that these characteristics
> have a negative impact
> > >on the work of families--to raise children, and on the
> possibility of
> > >community, that rarest of rare things in American
> life.
> > >
> > >Jane
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
> > >
> > >Jane Zainab Warner-Tholley
> > >University of Washington
> > >Seattle, Washington 98195
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
> > >
> >
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > >To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> > http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> > >To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail
> to:
> > >[log in to unmask]
> > >
> > >To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings,
> go to the Gambia-L
> > Web interface
> > >at:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> > >
> >
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
> >
>
___________________________________________________________________________________
> > Click, drag and drop. My MSN is the simple way to
> design your homepage.
> >
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To Search in
> > the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> > http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l To
> contact the List
> > Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
> > To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings,
> go to the Gambia-L
> > Web interface at:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
> >
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> >
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to:
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
> To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go
> to the Gambia-L Web interface
> at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
>
>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
___________________________________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger - Communicate instantly..."Ping"
your friends today! Download Messenger Now
http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com/download/index.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/CGI/wa.exe?S1=gambia-l
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
