Multiple wives in Islam

If you grew up in India odds are none of the decision was taken by you, either your parents or your grandparents have decided how you will live your life. You might top in your class, university or even won a national price, there are something’s that you just can’t do yourself, like choosing your own life partner. Growing up in India is in itself a unique experience. You won’t understand it until you interact with foreign people and their parents or watch foreign TV shows or movies and see how different their culture is.

India has become so modern yet inter caste marriage is seen as a taboo here. Girl, boy and even their parents are frowned upon or are socially out casted. A marriage or even a relationship between a Muslim and a Hindu is abhorred here, and we call us culturally diversified country.

Though there are various differences between both religions but the most shocking and unsettling thing about Muslim culture is that Muslim men can marry 4 times, without divorcing their previous wife. So, after spending lot of time on Google reading on it, what I could gather was that this verse is misunderstood by many, including many Muslims. Here is what the Quran says about this: If you deem it best for the orphans, you may marry their mothers – you may marry two, three, or four. If you fear that you’ll become unfair, then you should be content with only one, or with what you already have. Additionally, you are thus more likely to avoid financial hardship. This is something which God has allowed in the Quran so that orphans will be cared for. So a man cannot marry more than one woman for just any reason, only if their father is dead. Some will twist this into a license to marry more than one woman for their own desires and try to justify it with scripture, but in reality that would be against what God has commanded and the reasons he allowed it.

One of the reasons why polygamy was allowed in previous times was because in the times of war and natural disasters, men die in larger number leaving behind lot of women, widows and children. To give these women, widows and children dignity and respectful life, Islam has kept this option open for men to take care of multiple families. War has always created a bad time for women destroying their honor and dignity in the hands of, both the enemy soldiers and their own people, and later causing huge spread of prostitution, brothels, and what not. Unfortunately this scenario is still continuing in war prone countries, Women and children are suffering regardless of their faith or religion. A lot of them are left with no choice but to turn towards prostitution to feed their children and elders, while men are just taking advantage of this situation for their own pleasure. This is where the multiple marriages option of Islam should actually be applied, to men who can take care of additional families and marry these desperate women in need and provide them the respectful status of wife, and their children a father, and a place to call home. Quran allows men to marry four times. It also states that no wife should be treated unfairly. A strict balance should be maintained between multiple wives.