Why is a Man allowed to Marry 4 Wives in Islam? - Dr Zakir Naik

Why is a Man allowed to Marry 4 Wives in Islam? - Dr Zakir Naik

COGQA-8

Questioner: My name is Laxmi, I am a journalist. Now the second question is; Muslim men are allowed to marry 4-5 times, I think. And they don’t require their wife’s permission, you know, the first wife’s permission to marry. I mean correct me if I am wrong to marry more number of times. So I actually don’t see any logic in this because I believe its one man…one woman that’s the institution of marriage. So please clarify. Thank you. Dr Zakir Naik: Coming to your second question, in Islam men marry 4 times, 5 times and they don’t ask permission from the first wife, why? As far as Polygyny is concerned a man having more than one wife, Islam is the only religion and Qur’an in the only religious scripture on the face of the earth which says ‘marry only one’. There is no religious scripture besides the Qur’an, I am a student of comparative religion which says marry only one. There’s no verse in the Bible, no verse in the Bhagvad Geeta, no verse in the Veda which says marry only one except the Qur’an. If you read the Hindu scriptures in Ramaayan the father of Shri Ram how many wives did he have? How many wives?

Questioner: More than one.

Dr. Zakir: More than one, 3 wives. Fine… Shri Krishan according to Mahabharata how many wives did he have?

Questioner: Unlimited.

Dr. Zakir: not unlimited, you don’t know your scripture well. Questioner: No.

Dr. Zakir: Did he have 4 wives? No.

Questioner: I have no idea.

Dr. Zakir: Not 4, not 100, not 1,000, 16,108 wives. How many wives he had? 16,108 so why can’t we Muslims have 4? What’s the problem? When Shri Krishna can have 16,108 wives why can’t we have 4?

Further if you read the Vishnu Purana ch no. 24 verse no. 1 it says “A Brahmin can have up to 4 wives”

If you read the Jewish scriptures it gives you permission to have as many wives as you wish. If you read the Christian Bible it gives you permission to as many wives as you wish. If you read the Bible, Abraham had 3 wives. Solomon, how many wives did he have? He had 700 wives. It is later on, the Church has put a ban that Christian should marry only one, not the Bible. It is the Jewish community married more than one wife. It was in 1950 that Chief Rabbi, Passed the Synoid, that Jews should marry only one. So it is the Rabbi not the Jewish scriptures. And according to Hindu scriptures you can marry as many as you wish it is the Indian Government, in 1954 passed a law called the Hindu Special Marriage Act. Hindu Special Marriage Act which says Hindu should marry only one. It is not the religious scriptures, it is not Baghvad Geeta, it is not Ramaayan, it is not Mahabharata, it is not Veda it is the Indian penal court.

The Indian government which has passed a law in 1954 that Hindus should marry only one but according to the statistics of the status of the women in Islam.

If you read the government documents on page no. 66, 67 it says that Muslims do polygamous marriages, you know what’s the percentage in India? 4.3% How much? In India 4.3 % of the Muslim men do polygamous marriages. The statistics between 1951 to 1961 Hindus how many? 5.06, .7% more than the Muslims in India, according to the Indian government even though it is prohibited according to the Indian law yet they do more polygamous marriages than the…than the Muslims. Why?

Now let’s analyze what does the Qur’an say, Qur’an says in Surah Nisa Ch. 4 verse no. 3

“Marry women of your choice in twos, threes or fours but if you can’t do justice marry only one...