by Anne Davey

Created on: February 29, 2008   Last Updated: March 05, 2008

Many non-Muslims often express astonishment at the Islamic practice of polygamy. But the simple fact is that it is permitted in the Qur'an, which Muslims believe is the word of Allah revealed to and recorded by the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.). It is reasonable to comment then that the reason why Islam allows polygamy is that Allah allows it, and of course what Allah says, goes! But we can examine the practice and explore some potential reasons why it is seems good thing, at least in certain culture and at certain times.

Islamic teaching states that men are allowed to marry up to four wives, but women may only have one husband. The Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) was said to have twelve or thirteen wives after the death of Kadijah, his beloved first wife, to whom he was married exclusively for twenty-four years.

The practice of polygamy stretches back before Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) and is recorded as far back as the Prophet Ibrahim/Abraham. Revered by Christians and Jews as well as Muslims for being the father of monotheism and the founder of Judaism, Abraham had Ismael with Haggai before God blessed him with his son Isaac from his wife Sarai. The scriptures of all these three religions tell the story of Isaac's son Jacob, who famously had twelve sons by four different women (thus were formed the twelve tribes of Israel) and had to work many years having married Leah to earn the right to marry her sister Rachel, whom he loved.

So polygamy isn't new, and it isn't unique to Islam (think of Christian Mormons who also take the Biblical example of Jacob to heart). It was the responsibility of Abraham's descendants to fulfill the command of God in Genesis to "be fruitful and multiply" - after all Abraham had a nation to found! It makes sense to use all your resources to achieve your goal!

In times of war, polygamy may well have been regarded as a kindness to women, since if a lot of young men are killed in battle it is better to have the chance to become a cherished mother in the household than to be condemned to a life of spinsterhood. In Judaism and Christianity as well as Islam, motherhood is a prized state, and one recognised as being in God's plan for most women. Whenever there are too few men to go around, polygamy provides a solution.

The spirit of Islam is to protect the weak, and so the traditional view, formed in a society with different needs from our own, is that women should not be left to fend for themselves if they do not wish it - they should be welcomed into

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