1) Young Muslims - The Message

was passed that it became illegal for a Hindu to have more than onewife. At present, restriction on Hindu man to have one wife comesfrom the Indian Law and not from the Hindu scriptures.Let us now analyze why Islam allows a man to have more than onewife.4. Qur’an permits limited polygamyAs I mentioned earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the faceof the earth that says ‘marry only one’. The context of this phrase isthe following verse from Sura An Nisa’ of the Glorious Qur’an:“Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fearthat ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one.”[Sura An Nisa 4:3]Before the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit forpolygamy and many men had scores of wives, some even hundreds.Islam put an upper limit of four wives. Islam gives a man permissionto marry two, three or four women, only on the condition that hedeals justly with them.In the same Chapter i.e. Sura An Nisa’ Verse 129 says:“Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women....” [SuraAn Nisa 4:129]Therefore polygamy is not a rule but an exception. Many people areunder the misconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man tohave more than one wife.Broadly, Islam has five categories of Do’s and Don’ts:(i) ‘Fardh’ i.e. compulsory or obligatory(ii) ‘Mustahab’ i.e. recommended or encouragedYoung Muslims, What they should know about Islam Page - 130