The Issue of Polygamy and Objections of Orientalists
If any commandment of Islam is viewed in isolation from its background, human nature, and social realities, that commandment feels like a burden. Polygamy is one such issue that has been heavily criticized, but the question of why Islam allowed this principle in the first place has rarely been raised. Islam did not come for an imaginary world, but for a world where humans are weak, circumstances change, and every problem is not visible beforehand. The main point is that Islam has presented polygamy not as a gateway to desire, but as a solution to a problem. Now, the reasons why Islam established the principle of polygamy are the realities that emerge after marriage. Before marriage, a person is unaware of many things:
*One is not certain of someone's infertility beforehand, one does not know beforehand if a woman is unable to sustain a pregnancy, the revelation of a permanent, natural, or physical illness often occurs after marriage*
Now, dear readers, please consider a real situation. A man marries a woman.
After some time, it is discovered that the wife is infertile or unable to sustain a pregnancy, or is suffering from a natural illness that makes it impossible to lead a complete married life.
*Now the question is, what should the husband do?*
Because the purpose of marriage is not only to satisfy desires but also to increase the lineage, and this is the main purpose. But that woman is not capable of it. So now, *there will be two options: either he will have an illicit relationship with someone else to make her a place for sustaining pregnancy, or he will be permanently deprived of children.*
Now, the first possible way is that he divorces his first wife and then marries another girl so that humans can be protected from polygamy, as the orientalists say.
*Now the question to the orientalists is, what is the fault of his girl? This girl who has spent a few years with a husband, but now the husband has left her helpless, and obviously, no one can marry this infertile girl. Now she will remain helpless and without support for the rest of her life, and who will be responsible for her sustenance in this situation?* O orientalists, this seems like an easy solution to you, but consider its consequences: the woman is not at fault, the illness or infertility is not in her control, but despite that, she is declared divorced.
Now the question is, O orientalists, who will marry this divorced woman? How will society view her? Will her entire life become a punishment for a natural weakness?
This is not a solution, it is making an innocent woman a sacrificial lamb.
*The second way is for the husband to suppress his desires and live his life, and bury the concept of having children forever.* This path clashes with the nature of man, creates mental suffocation and psychological distortion, gradually bitterness and hatred are born in the house, often this pressure leads to secret relationships, forbidden paths, or marital infidelity. This path does not save the man, nor the woman, but it degrades the dignity of the woman in the eyes of the man.
*The third way is to adopt a forbidden relationship.* This is the path that Islam does not accept in any way. Adultery, girlfriend culture, secret relationships, in which the woman is unsafe, the children are illegitimate, the family is ruined, this is utter corruption, not a solution.
If we abandon the law of Islam and act on the words of the orientalists, and say that polygamy is not correct, then there will be no solution to all these reasons, instead of improvement, corruption will be created, which is still found in the Western world, that now boys do not need to marry, they just manage, and there girls find a new boy every day and trample on their honor, and then they pave the way for their sexual gratification by going to jobs, prostitution dens, and cinema halls throughout their lives, and then they come back making their self-respect a toy, and this series also lasts only until their youth, as soon as they cross the age of thirty-five, then no one asks them, but they now crave for boys. *O black and yellow people of the Western world, neither you nor your ancestors can make a law like Islam.*
Now let's read the honorable religion of Allah and see, is polygamy such that men can marry whenever they want and keep several wives in their marriage, or are there some conditions and regulations for it, and what path has Islam given?
*Islam has given the fourth path, which we call moderation.* Polygamy (keeping more than one wife) does not mean divorcing the first wife, not expelling her, but her rights remain protected, and the second marriage is completed through marriage with full responsibility, sustenance, accommodation, and a strict condition of justice. This principle does not deny the nature of man, nor does it insult the woman, and it saves the society from adultery. This is the place where the wisdom of Islam becomes clear. And Islam has placed the law of polygamy far beyond all the limits of humanity and has clearly declared that you cannot keep several wives like this, that the wife is fine
Give her divorce without any reason, or you do not do justice between them, then you are not allowed to have even one wife, The law of Islam will fulfill the rights of those who will have several wives well, understand it in simple words, as much time as he will give to the first wife, he will give the same time to the second wife, what he will give her to eat, he will give to the second, as much love as he will give to her, he will give the same love to the second, the standard of cloth he will make for her, he will make the same standard of cloth for her, the limit is that he is allowed to keep two only if he does justice between both in every respect, if he cannot do justice then he is allowed to keep one, if he cannot do justice with her also then he is not allowed to keep even one, this is the law of Islam, those cruel people who have been oppressing women all the time and are still doing
They are talking about women's rights.
*Now the objections of the orientalists and their answers*
Now the first objection comes to the fore *Objection: Polygamy (keeping more than one woman in marriage) is oppression of women.* It is said that a man's marriage to more than one woman injures the self-respect of the woman, gives her mental anguish and makes her inferior. This objection stands on the assumption that the honor of a woman is protected only if the husband does not remarry, whether as a result, the first woman gets divorced, or the man adopts a forbidden path, or the society becomes a victim of moral corruption, this thinking is neither productive, nor is it the killer of women's needs.
*Answer to this objection*
Islam has made polygamy neither obligatory nor a general command, but a conditional permission: ﴿فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَّا تَعْدِلُوا فَوَاحِدَةً﴾(If you fear that you will not be able to do justice, then be content with one) If it were oppression of women, then *justice would not have been made a condition, sustenance and accommodation would not have been made obligatory, the limit of four would not have been set.* Islam takes the woman out of the humiliation of secret relationships, saves her from becoming a temporary mistress, *If there is no polygamy, then inevitable evils* If Islam did not allow this, then a barren or sick woman would be divorced and left alone, the number of divorced women would increase, illicit relationships would become common, the woman would be the most affected, it is a fact that Islam did not throw the woman out, but solved the problem while keeping her, and by allowing polygamy, Islam has added four moons to the honor of the woman, but where can the blind of intellect understand this wisdom. *Direct question to the orientalists*
O orientalists, if you call the Islamic solution oppression, then tell me, what is the solution for a barren woman? Who will marry a divorced woman? Where will you take the nature of man? What alternative do you have besides adultery? If you have neither protection for women, nor a system for the family, nor morals for the society, then there is no moral right to object either.
Islam has described the solution to all this discussion in a beautiful way, otherwise the pages of history are witness to the barbarity that these self-worshipers have done to women, the soul trembles while describing it,
And the condition screams and wishes to be her funeral, when history is picked up and seen, the deniers of polygamy themselves have become convinced that Islam has given such a systematic principle of polygamy that has given dignity to women, because there are many stages when men become less, when there is a war system, then women are safe in their homes and men say goodbye to this mortal world and go to Dar-ul-Baqa, now what will they say about those women who were only in their honeymoon for a few days and her husband became dear to Allah, now according to the theory of thought of the orientalists, it is understood that she has no value now, no dignity, no honor, and the history of India tells that the one whose husband died was cursed for the rest of her life, now what will the orientalists say about all the real pages of history, their eyes are bowed with shame when the pages of their history are recited to them, the nation that gave women the title of maid before Islam and used them like garbage, they are talking about women's rights today, then listen carefully, the princesses of Islam do not need any other principle, Islam has completely given them every right they deserve, you and your thinking go to hell. Islam did not come for an ideal world, but for a real world, polygamy is not a desire but wisdom, not oppression but protection, this principle was given so that the woman does not get punished, the man does not sin, and the society is saved from falling apart, this is the justice of Islam.
*Islam has given as many rights as the princesses of Islam needed, now she does not need any more.*.
*✍️Student of Al-Jamia Al-Ashrafia✍️*