Why is a man allowed to have more than one wife in Islam? i.e., why is polygamy allowed in Islam?

Definition of Polygamy
Polygamy is 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. Coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than one wife?

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 (960 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 when an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.

Interesting Note: As per the 1975 census of India, Hindus are more polygynous than Muslims. The report of the ‘Committee on The Status of Woman in Islam’, published in 1975 mentions on pages 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 for 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.

Qur’an Permits Limited Polygyny
As I mentioned earlier, the 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 a Muslim man must have more than one wife. Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do’s and Don’ts:

(i) ‘Fard’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory
(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouraged
(iii) ‘Mubah’ i.e. permissible or allowed
(iv) ‘Makruh’ i.e. not recommended or discouraged
(v) ‘Haraam’ i.e. prohibited or forbidden

Polygyny falls in the middle category of permissible things. It cannot be said that a Muslim who has two, three, or four wives is better compared to a Muslim who has only one wife.

The Average LifeSpan of Females is More Than That of Males
By nature, males and females are born in approximately the same ratio. A female child has more immunity than a male child. A female child can fight germs and diseases better than a male child. For this reason, during the pediatric age itself, there are more deaths among males as compared to females.

During wars, there are more men killed as compared to women. More men die due to accidents and diseases than women. The average life span of females is more than that of males, and at any given time, one finds more widows in the world than widowers.

India Has More Male Population Than Female Due to Female Foeticide and Infanticide
India is one of the few countries, along with the other neighbouring countries, in which the female population is less than the male population. The reason lies in the high rate of female infanticide in India, and the fact that more than one million female foetuses are aborted every year in this country after they are identified as females. If this evil practice is stopped, then India too will have more females as compared to males.

The World’s Female Population is More Than the Male Population
In the USA, women outnumber men by 7.8 million. New York alone has one million more females as compared to the number of males, and of the male population of New York, one-third are gays i.e. sodomites. The U.S.A. as a whole has more than twenty-five million gays. This means that these people do not wish to marry women.

Great Britain has four million more females as compared to males. Germany has five million more females as compared to males. Russia has nine million more females than males. God alone knows how many million more females there are in the whole world as compared to males.

Restricting Each Man to Have Only One Wife is Not Practical
Even if every man got married to one woman, there would still be more than thirty million females in the U.S.A. who would not be able to get husbands (considering that America has twenty-five million gays). There would be more than four million females in Great Britain, five million females in Germany, and nine million females in Russia alone who would not be able to find a husband.

Suppose my sister happens to be one of the unmarried women living in the USA or suppose your sister happens to be one of the unmarried women in the USA. The only two options remaining for her are that she either marries a man who already has a wife or becomes ‘public property’. There is no other option. All those who are modest will opt for the first.

Most women would not like to share their husbands with other women. But in Islam, when the situation deems it necessary, Muslim women in due faith could bear a small personal loss to prevent a greater loss of letting other Muslim sisters become ‘public properties’.

Marrying a Married Man is Preferable to Becoming ‘Public Property’
In Western society, it is common for a man to have mistresses and/or multiple extra-marital affairs, in which case, the woman leads a disgraceful, unprotected life. The same society, however, cannot accept a man having more than one wife, in which women retain their honourable, dignified position in society and lead a protected life.

Thus, the only two options for a woman who cannot find a husband are to marry a married man or to become ‘public property’. Islam prefers giving women the honourable position by permitting the first option and disallowing the second. There are several other reasons why Islam has permitted limited polygyny, but it is mainly to protect the modesty of women.