And if you fear injustice, then marry one. A man that marries two women and does not deal justly with them will be resurrected with half of his body hangingIS POLYGAMY down. If you fear that you will fail FAIRto deal TO justly with the orphans, thenWOMEN? marry suitable women, two or three, or four, but if you fear that you will fail to be just, then marryAn analysis one. of Athe manpermission that for marries polygamy in Islam and its two womenrelationship and withdoes gender not equity deal justly with them will be resurrected with half of his body hanging down. If you fear that you will fail to deal justly Da„wah Institute of Nigeria with the Islamicorphans, Education Trustthen marry suitable women, two or three, or four, but if you fear injustice, then marry one. A man that marries two women and does not deal justly with them will be resurrected with half of BLANK (INNER FRONT COVER) 2 IS POLYGAMY FAIR TO WOMEN? 3 DIN PUBLICATIONS Module 101 Series 4 IS POLYGAMY FAIR TO WOMEN? An analysis of the permission for polygamy in Islam and its relationship with gender equity Da„wah Institute of Nigeria Islamic Education Trust 5 BLANK PAGE 6 ©Islamic Education Trust, 1430/2009 ISBN ………………………. All rights reserved: No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner except with written permission from the publisher. Da‟wah Institute of Nigeria Islamic Education Trust Headquarters PMB 229, Ilmi Avenue, Minna, Niger State, Nigeria. Phone: +234-803-600-5535 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ietonline.org 7 CONTENTS Foreword Acknowledgements Notes on Terminology and Transliteration Preface Part I: The Polyandry Argument 1. Why can‟t a woman have more than one husband? 2. „Husbands‟ each wanting more children 3. Practicalities of DNA testing - Whose child? 4. Female sexual health concerns from multiple partners 5. Permitting polyandry means permitting both polyandry and polygyny 6. Polyandry and sexual health epidemics 7. Polyandry and male exploitation 8. Polyandry and the fate of children 9. Polyandrous family structure and conflict 10. Total Impact Assessment and public benefit Part II: Is Polygyny Fair to Women? 1. Why permit polygyny at all? Why not simply stick to monogamy? 2. Islam‟s restriction and condition for polygyny 3. Why not simply forbid polygyny? a. Numerical prevalence of women in some contexts 8 b. Socio-economic necessity c. Individual cases 4. Irresponsible „polygyny‟ in monogamous societies 5. Is polygyny not a Sunnah practice? 6. Islamic options in case of abuse in polygyny Bibliography Recommended Websites Other Publications of the Da‟wah Institute of Nigeria (DIN) 9 BLANK PAGE 10 FOREWORD TO THE SERIES Islam is considered by many observers to be the fastest growing religion in the world, yet it is the most misunderstood of the world's major faiths. Some misconceptions about Islam stem from calculated propaganda against Islam, but a good amount of it is attributable to the ignorance of many Muslims whose limited knowledge and practice of Islam perpetuates these misconceptions. Due to the deficiencies of the common, restricted way of teaching Islam to children, many Muslims grow up believing that Islam requires only blind faith and invites no intellectual challenges. Often such Muslims manage with minimal knowledge of their faith until they interact with larger circles of people, in higher institutions or the work place, where they are confronted with many misconceptions about Islam, and face questions they cannot answer. It is in response to the need for empowering Muslims to know their religion, and to share its beautiful message with the rest of humanity, that this work was begun. This effort is part of a wider project of intellectual empowerment of the global Muslim world. Among the programs designed by the Islamic Education Trust over the past decade and a half is the Train the Trainers Course (TTC) in Islam and Dialogue. As its name indicates, the course is designed to train da'wah volunteers in clarifying misconceptions about Islam, handling differences of opinion among Muslim scholars, and extending personal leadership training to others. The contents of this series of books evolved from teaching manuals from the TTC. It is hoped that this publication will serve as intellectual resource material for Muslims of different backgrounds. 11 Justice Sheikh Ahmed Lemu National President Islamic Education Trust November 2008 Dhul-Qa„dah, 1429 AH 12 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 13 14 NOTES ON TERMINOLOGY AND TRANSLITERATION 1. Use of the symbol, “” It is a time-honored and cherished tradition among Muslims that whenever the name of any of the numerous Prophets of God is mentioned, peace and blessings are invoked upon him. In line with this tradition and the injunction in Qur‟an 33:56, wherever the title “the Prophet,” “Messenger of Allah,” “Apostle of Allah,” or the Prophet‟s name, “Muhammad,” appear in this text, the symbol () appears next to it. This abbreviation equates to the saying, “may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.” Contemporary written work on Islam by Muslims incorporate many variations of symbols and abbreviations for this benediction, including “S.A.W.”, “s.a.s.”, “s”, “p”, “pbuh” and others. In determining which customary symbol to utilize, it is worth mentioning that manuscripts belonging to the first two centuries of Islam‟s intellectual heritage did not rigidly adhere to the custom of writing a benediction after the Prophet‟s name1, and hence, there is no „best‟ way of representing it. 2. References to ahadith2 and commentaries drawn from computer software Efforts have been made to ensure all ahadith in this material are drawn from reliable and well-respected collections. Reservations expressed by respected authorities about the 1 Jeffrey Lang, Struggling to Surrender: Some Impressions of an American Convert to Islam (Beltsville, USA: Amana Publications, 1994), p. ix 2 Plural of hadith – the narrations or reported actions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. 15 authenticity of any hadith have been indicated in footnotes, even as its presence in this text indicates that it is considered authentic by other scholars of repute. An abundance of Islamic classical texts and some of their translations now exist on CD-ROMs3. The present material has made use of some of these CD-ROMs for obtaining ahadith and their commentaries (tafasir). The most commonly utilized CD-ROM database of hadith in English has been the Alim Version 6.0 software. Hence, references to hadith collections that end with the phrase “in Alim 6.0” throughout this material refer to those obtained from the Alim Version 6.0 database (ISL Software Corporation, 1986-2000). References to collections of hadith commentaries which have been drawn from other CD-ROMs have been noted in footnotes throughout the text. 3. Transliteration of Arabic words Modern Islamic literature in English utilizes a number of transliteration systems for Arabic words. This material has followed the system used by the majority, the details of which may be found in the International Journal of Middle East Studies4. However, for our ease and simplicity, we have omitted the diacritical dots and dashes which facilitate exact pronunciations. It is expected that this should not render the words unreadable. 3 Database software for viewing information on computers. 4 With a few exceptions. 16 PREFACE That Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife has attracted a lot of criticism against Islam from many non-Muslims. It is assumed that Islam is unjust in not equally permitting Muslim women to also marry more than one man. In an age where equality between genders is much sought-after, it is necessary for Muslims to appreciate the wisdom of why Islam in this instance does not appear to sanction it, and whether this is based on a disposition for legislating injustice or for some real benefit to women and society. Moreover, modern sexual trends include many types of relationships, and therefore Muslim youth need to be aware of what position Islam takes on each of these and why. The question that follows solicits the basis for one such position. Some of the most common misconceptions among Non- Muslims relate to the institution of polygyny (commonly referred to as polygamy5). These include that polygyny is introduced by Islam, is compulsory for Muslim men, the norm among Muslim communities, 5 Polygamy technically refers to having more than one spouse at a time, whether male or female. In other words, one man with multiple wives (polygyny) or one wife with multiple husbands (polyandry), are all covered by the more general term polygamy. 17 an avenue for men to pursue unrestrained sexual urges, a means to subject women to oppression, and has no benefit to society. Polygynous marriages are considered a violation of human rights and thus frequently elicit campaigns for their eradication. The Muslim responses to these campaigns have been largely emotional, and unsuccessful in convincing many Non-Muslims and even many modern Muslims about the wisdom of Islam‟s position on polygyny. The question that follows originates from a Muslim or Non-Muslim who may be seeking to understand the significance and wisdom of the Islamic injunctions of polygyny as well as clarification on issues related to its practice in Muslim society. 18 The Polyandry Argument “Why can‟t a woman have more than one husband in Islam, since a Muslim man may have more than one wife?” Shari‟ah rulings are all based on the objective of promoting benefits and minimizing harms to the individual and society. Rulings on sexual relationships are no different. The prohibition of Muslim women from marrying more than one man, thus, follows this rationale.