Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 248
248 Islam permits a plurality of wives, not exceeding four, but only on condition of strict equality of treatment among them. “If you fear you will not be able to deal justly with them, then marry only one” (4:4). The permission may be availed of in a national or domestic emergency, or where circumstances make it desirable that the ordinary rule of monogamy be departed from, but in every case, whatever the degree of affection that the husband may have for one wife as compared with the other, his treatment of each must be absolutely equal. He must make identical provision for each and spend the same period of time with each. There are detailed regulations and instructions which show that he who avails himself of the permission must submit himself to a severe discipline. The contingency that necessitates recourse to a plurality of wives may be worth the discipline, but there is certainly no allowance for self-indulgence. The Prophet has said: “A man who marries more women than one and then does not deal justly with them will be resurrected with half his faculties paralysed. ” Preservation of the higher values and promotion of righteousness must be the constant objectives. Permission to marry more than one woman at a time is a necessary emergency provision for the preservation and fostering of high social values and for safeguarding society against promiscuity. In the Islamic social system no stigma attaches to the