Islam_in_Focus_text

The passage vvas revealed after the Battle of Uhud in
vvhich many Muslims were killed, leaving widows and or-
phans for whom due care was incumbent upon the Muslim
survivors. Marriage was one way of protecting those widows
and orphans. The Qur'an made this warning and gave that
ehoice to protect the rights of the orphans and prevent the
guardians from doing injustice to their dependents.
With this background it is apparent that Islam did not in-
vent polygamy, and that by introducing the said regulations
it does not encourage it as a rule. It did not abolish it because
if it were abolished, that would have been in theory only,
and people would have continued the practice as is observed
today among other people whose constitutions and social
standards do not approve polygamy, Islam came to be en-
forced, to be lived, to be practised, and not to stay in sus-
pense or be considered a mere theory, It is realistic and its
outlook on life is most practicable. And that is why it per-
mits conditional and restricted polygamy; because had it
been in the best interest of humanity as a whole to do with-
out this institution. God would have certainly ordered its ter-
mination. But who knows better than He?
The re is a variety of reasons for which Islam permits
polygamy. One does not have to imagine such reasons or
make hypotheses. They are real and can be seen every day
everywhere. Let us examine some of these reasons.