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Article
Polygyny in Islam: a call for retrospection
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies
  • Man Baker, Zayed University
ORCID Identifiers

0000-0002-4880-6666

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2021
Abstract

This article revisits the issue of polygyny in Islam and the conditions men must meet before considered acceptable. Justified by the third verse of Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, participating in up to four contemporaneous marriages was traditionally allowed for any man with two conditions: physically capable of doing so, and that he treats his wives justly. This study suggests that there is a third condition: the presence of a strong legal reason for entering an additional marriage. Moreover, this article determined that the polygyny was allowed to treat a societal ill ‘the injustice towards the orphans’, thus the context must be applicable in any similar cases. The Qurʾān strongly warns against harming orphans in any way. Therefore, men of that time found themselves trapped between two prohibitions: not fulfiling the rights of the orphans- to avoid the consequences of injustice even by mistake-, and falling into temptation due to their unused assets or their beauty -if the orphan was woman-. The verse of polygamy, therefore, provided the solution: allowing men to marry from women orphans, if this legal reason (fear of mistreating orphans) is in place.

Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Scopus ID
85114223789
Indexed in Scopus
Yes
Open Access
No
https://doi.org/10.1080/13530194.2021.1975258
Citation Information
Man Baker. "Polygyny in Islam: a call for retrospection" British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (2021) ISSN: <a href="https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/id/publication/issn/1353-0194" target="_blank">1353-0194</a>
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/man-baker/5/