POLYGAMY
“And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two, three and four, but if you fear that you may not do justice to them, marry only one.” (THE QURAN)
Islam has come in for much unthinking criticism for the institution of polygamy. It is not realized that polygamy was and still remains conditional. It arose out of the peculiar circumstances that faced Islam in the beginning. Islam had to fight a number of wars which led to the reduction of the male population. The problem of surplus women could only be solved by permitting men to marry more than one wife in order to provide for the helpless women and their children.
Moreover, in Arabia, before the advent of Islam, polygamy was in vogue. A man
could marry any number of women. Islam limited the number of wives to four and
thus grappled with a serious social problem in gradual steps. At a later stage
when peace was established in the society, there were fewer cases of polygamy.
Today, the large majority of Muslims live on monogamy.
The
Christian thinkers and writers who criticise Islam for polygamy forget that it
is not purely an Islamic institution. The Jews permitted as well as practised
polygamy at the beginning of the Christian era. Some of the Christian kings
kept more than one wife without the disapproval of the Church.
“Most of the male's extra-marital
activities is undoubtedly a product of his interest in a variety of
experiences.” (DR. KINSEY)
Charlemagne had two wives and many concubines. Some of the Hindu rulers had a number of wives.
The Mormonizes, a section of Christianity, will practise polygamy. Islam
was the first religion to recognise the social implications of the problem and
regularise it on a more just basis.
Polygamy,
apart from its religious sanction, has certain advantages. In the event of a
war, the greater part of the male population is killed. Now there are only two
alternatives for the woman either remain unmarried and seek sexual satisfaction
outside marriage or accept polygamy as the most natural solution to the
problem. It was in view of such eventualities that in England proposals were
made in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to legalize polygamy as a
means of restraining infanticide, adultery and prostitution. During World
War II thousands of unmarried girls, who had fewer chances of marriage,
wandered about the soldiers' barracks to seek one moment of romance.
“Man is a strongly polygamous or
varietist animal... To a greater percentage of men, a strictly monogamous life
is either irksome, painfully disagreeable or an utter impossibility.” (DR.
ROBINSON)
In
America, girls between 16 and 21 offered themselves openly to the soldiers
to have a good time. This led to great moral laxity which was decried by all
sane people. In Japan, where the female population is much in excess of the
male population, the question of moral health is becoming increasingly
difficult. In such circumstances legalized polygamy would offer great relief
to the majority of women.
Even
if there are no considerations of war, polygamy is almost the only solution
under certain circumstances. Such, for instance, would be the case when the
woman was childless or suffering from so infectious diseases. Man is by nature
polygamous. If there is no legal outlet to his polygamous desire, he finds out the means to satisfy it. Dr Kinsey reports that among some 10,000 people interviewed
by him, one out of every two married men admitted extra-marital relations. This
almost convinces one that monogamy is more unnatural than polygamy.
But
polygamy has its disadvantages too. Many people use Play as a pretext for
licentiousness. They marry a number of women either for their physical
attraction or for their wealth, The first wife is given over in favour of the
second. The same treatment is meted out to the second wife when the man takes
fancy to another woman. Thus, polygamy encourages social injustice which
strikes at the root of society.
Polygamy
may encourage overpopulation and create many other economic difficulties.
Bernard Shaw expressed the fear that polygamy would enable the best man to monopolies
all the women, and a great many men would be condemned to a life of celibacy.
But there is no such fear. The 'best men' are few and women are so many. The
real misfortune of polygamy is that it gives rise to domestic quarrels and many
other complications. I personally know of a friend who has two wives. His life
presents the pitiable sight of a suffering man. Unless a man is fabulously rich
and possessed of superhuman resourcefulness, he should not think of having more
than one wife.