Chief of the Prophets — Page 114
Chapter Seven 114 Polygamy and its Rationale The marriage of Muḥammad sa with ‘Ᾱ’ishah ra marked the beginning of the practice of polygamy by Muḥammad sa , so it is appropriate to briefly discuss this issue here. It should be remembered that the Sharī’ah (the Islamic Law) allows a man to have up to four wives under certain circumstances. The Qur’ān says: (Al-Nisā’ 4:4) Then marry women of your choice two, or three, or four. And if you fear you will not deal justly, then marry only one. We find from the Qur’ān and the authentic Aḥādīth that in the case of having more than one wife, a man should strive his best to treat them with justice. Some people are of the opinion that it is unfair to have more than one wife. But when carefully pondered, we find that this view is against human nature and physical needs. It appears appropriate to mention here a few sayings of the Promised Messiah as 1 related to the rationality and the wisdom behind multiple wives. Promised Messiah as says: The Sharī’ah of God has all types of remedies in it. If Islam did not allow multiple marriages, then the Sharī’ah would have had no remedy for the situations that man faces requiring the second marriage. For instance if a woman becomes insane, or becomes leprous, or suffers from some other irremediable sickness that renders her useless, or 1 The founder of Aḥmadiyya Movement in Islam who came as the Messiah at the end of the 19 th century and his advent was foretold by Muḥammad sa. [Publisher]