Polygamy in Islam

   Judaism originally enacted polygamy.  The Torah states that Prophet Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred slave girls. In some parts of the world, a single man may have ten wives.  Before the advent of Islam, polygamy was an established practice in the Arabian Peninsula. Even in Christianity, only men of religion were prohibited to have more than one wife but such prohibition was eventually extended to include other categories of people.  As a result, matrimonial deception has become widespread. It is really very strange to believe that restricted and conditional polygamy id worse than secret uncontrolled and illegal sexual relations.
  I made several visits to east, west and south Africa and found polygamy prevailing there even among Christians.   Someone may say that polygamy will hurt the first wife. Yes, it is true that it does if all media is mobilized against it.  I had been to Nigeria and Congo where I found people there believe in polygamy. Wives even urge their husbands to have more than one wife. From there I moved to Holland and Turkey where I found the contrary.  The law considers polygamy a crime and mobilization against it is in full swing.
  I would like to quote here a testimony by the reputed Orientalist Gustav Lopon who lived among Muslims and knew well the whereabouts of their lives. He said: "There is no social system that received much blame by Europeans as polygamy did and there is no system that European misunderstood like polygamy. However, I do not find any reason that make polygamy, which is legal to Orientals, less in rank to the secret polygamy concept adopted by westerners, although I see the contrary, i.e the former is better than the latter."
      The German philosopher Shobenheur gave a similar testimony. He stated: "The law of matrimony in Europe are corrupt in structure when they make women equal to men. They compelled us to only one wife and hence forfeited half our rights while they doubled our duties.... In the societies that permit polygamy a woman will always find a husband who supports her. By contrast, married women in our societies are few and many others are without a supporter. Some high class women bear hardships and might deviate to earn their living and hence live defamed because their honor was sacrificed on the altar of marriage. All these are victims of restricting marriage to one wife as a result of the obstinate tendencies of the European lady and the false rights she claims for herself."

            Here rises a question: What are the justification for polygamy?
  Polygamy is permissible if there is need to it but never has been mandatory. A set of factors makes it a requirement:
      1- Cases when the number of women increases whereas the number of men decreases such as in wars in which many men are killed.
      2- Cases when the first wife is infertile and when the husband wishes to have children. Instead of divorcing the infertile wife, he can keep her and have another wife, to solve the problem.
      3- Case when the wife has a chronic and incurable illness. The husband can have another wife and can also keep the first wife as a gesture of respect for her.
      4- Cases when the wife becomes pregnant, when she gives birth or when she has the period. During these periods, some men feel the need for another woman in order to avoid illegal sexual relationships. By having a second wife, the problem will be solved.

                                                                                   Dr. Nu'man Abdul Razzaq