Why polygamy is allowed?

And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans, then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four; but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one or what your right hands possess; this is more proper, that you may not deviate from the right course. (Quran 4:3)


Islam allows Muslim man to have up to four wives if he can do justice between them. By "doing Justice" means that man should give equal and same means of life to all his wives. That is, same type of accommodation, same food, distribute his days equally to all of them, whatever he provides to one he must provide to others too.

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It's very difficult for a man to do justice with more than one wife. That's why Islam says to marry only one woman if you cannot do justice between your wives. Basically Islam is not allowing but restricting polygamy. Before Islam, there was no restriction on the number of wives. And even today, people (having different beliefs & religions) practicing polygamy have no such restrictions.

There are many situations that might require a man to marry more than once. Few examples include:

Check the world population. The number of women is greater than men. So there will always be women who will never get married if every man marries one woman. So what do you think those women, who doesn't get married, will do. So what is the solution?

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Men die in war. Just analyze the wars in the past and the number of men who died in those wars in this century. Result: millions of women get widowed. What should they do? Even just look in the past 30 years. The wars in Vietnam, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Somalia, East Timor and the list goes on & on. Hundreds of thousands of men died in these wars. So what is the solution?


After the death of man, the woman has to look after the whole family. So basically her life virtually finishes, i.e., earn money, raise children, cook food etc. No one to take care of her and her family. What to do? So what is the solution?

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There is large number of disabled population. Some are blind, some deaf, some have physical disabilities etc. But they also want to marry a man. But majority of them does not. Why? So what is the solution?

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If some elder woman becomes widow than doesn't she want to marry after some time? So what is the solution?
Islam is a practical and realistic religion. It is not here to fulfill the dreams or philosophy or personal opinion of some individual but it provides the practical solutions to the problems and it is the way of life for humanity. No other religion in the world provides the solution to the above problem which is just one of the problem facing the human race.

Islam provides an answer to these problems. In Islam, it is the duty of a man to take care of woman, to provide her with all the means of life. And for a Muslim man, it is a great test to take care of a woman. Because they might have to marry women twenty years elder just to support them. They might have to marry disabled women. And women with children. And they have to take care of their children. In Islam, the concept of life is doing as many good deeds as possible. Life is not about enjoying at the expense of the misery of other people but its about satisfaction and peace by being a helping hand to those in misery and pain. And all that is not easy.

You can easily see the outcome of ignoring this one very important concept of multiple wives. The prostitution rate is high. And so is the number of sexually transmitted diseases. The family system is diminishing. The status of above-mentioned people (disabled women etc) is not good at all. This factor also contributes to the increase in poverty rate. And in the spread of social evils.