"If you fear that you will not deal fairly with the orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two, three, or four; but if you fear that you will not deal justly, then only one, or those whom your right hands possess. Thus it is more like you will not commit injustice."
Quran 4:3
This passage, drawn from the fourth surah, al-Nisa, or "Women," one of the most important chapters in the Quran. This is the Quranic passage that limits the number of wives to no more than four, but actually no more than you treat fairly. The common perception is that it was increased to four, but actually it was limited to four. Arabia at the time of Muhammad was both an extraordinarily misogynistic society, but also a region torn by consistent warfare; the result being many widows with no one to support them. The Prophet himself was only married to one woman, his first wife Khadija, for most of his life, and it was only after her death - and because of the political demands of sewing together a deeply fragmented land, that he ended up marrying many women for essentially diplomatic reasons. Thus the decision to allow four had much more to do with social and economic reasons than anything else, but it has stuck. In reality I think that less than 2% of Muslim marriages are actually polygamous, mainly because of the directive about treating all the wives fairly - and obviously because of national rules making it illegal. This is another one of those rules that I find myself in opposition to, not only because, contrary to the original desire to provide some measure of protection, it all too often limits the rights of women. In addition, this is one of those religious dictates that, well, has nothing to do with religion, but instead the societal and historical baggage associated with the religion's growth.
Quran 4:3
This passage, drawn from the fourth surah, al-Nisa, or "Women," one of the most important chapters in the Quran. This is the Quranic passage that limits the number of wives to no more than four, but actually no more than you treat fairly. The common perception is that it was increased to four, but actually it was limited to four. Arabia at the time of Muhammad was both an extraordinarily misogynistic society, but also a region torn by consistent warfare; the result being many widows with no one to support them. The Prophet himself was only married to one woman, his first wife Khadija, for most of his life, and it was only after her death - and because of the political demands of sewing together a deeply fragmented land, that he ended up marrying many women for essentially diplomatic reasons. Thus the decision to allow four had much more to do with social and economic reasons than anything else, but it has stuck. In reality I think that less than 2% of Muslim marriages are actually polygamous, mainly because of the directive about treating all the wives fairly - and obviously because of national rules making it illegal. This is another one of those rules that I find myself in opposition to, not only because, contrary to the original desire to provide some measure of protection, it all too often limits the rights of women. In addition, this is one of those religious dictates that, well, has nothing to do with religion, but instead the societal and historical baggage associated with the religion's growth.
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