Having more than
one wife
Other Relevant Facts:
·
It is moral to have more than one wife:
According to the old and new
testaments, Jacob had four wives, Abraham had two wives and Solomon had so many wives.
·
The norm regarding having multiple wives:
The norm is one wife only
because God created Adam and Eve was his only wife. The exception is to have
multiple wives.
·
There are situations where having multiple wives is favored:
1.
If the first wife cannot bear children then the man can have a second
wife. This was done by Prophet Abraham. His wife Sarah offered him to marry her
servant Hagar to get
children.
2.
If the first wife has serious health problems or disability that would
prevent her from being a wife and the husband needs a wife. If having multiple
wives is not allowed, then the husband would have to divorce his ill wife and
get another healthy one. The alternative is to keep the ill wife and get a
second wife. This is made possible by allowing more than one wife.
·
Comparison with the American law that does not allow more than one
wife:
1. The American law allows a man to
have one wife and unlimited number of girl friends.
2. Women might lose their rights
because of not allowing a man to have more than one wife. It happens when a
woman is not attractive enough to attract a husband. May be she is not
attractive because she is divorced or widow with many children, or for other
reasons. The solution for this woman is to share a husband. If this is not
allowed, then the alternative is to be a girl friend. A girl friend is deprived from the legal rights of a wife.
3. A single woman who was not able
to attract a husband would prefer to share a husband rather than nothing. This
happened in the case of a Canadian woman who became Muslim in her fifties. She
was suffering because she was lonely. Another married Muslim woman approached
her and offered to share her husband with the Canadian woman. She is not lonely
anymore and this ended her suffering. Later, she got her own children and she
became a happy mother too. In these kinds of situations sharing a husband is
better than nothing.
4. In an interview with a woman in
Sudan, that has a co-wife, she said that her husband is too much for her to
handle and it is nice to have a co-wife to share the burden.
·
Other relevant fact:
1. Wars take the lives of men. The
ratio of men to women falls below 50%. For example, the ratio was much skewed
in the Soviet Union and Germany after World War II. In this kind of situation,
having more than one wife can be useful.
2. The husband must divide his time
and resources equally among his wives. It is a major sin to be biased.
·
Rules in Islam regarding having more than one wife:
1. No more than four.
2. Can’t have two sisters together,
can’t have a woman and her daughter together, and can’t have a woman and her
ant together.
·
Islam does not allow multiple husbands:
1. Because it is immoral in Islam to
have multiple husbands. Not only Islam does that but it is never heard of
anywhere in the world cultures.
2. Because the father of the child
will not be known. DNA testing is not available to the vast majority of people.