This column was originally published in the February 5th, 2011 edition of The Kingston Whig-Standard

British Columbia’s Attorney General is pursuing a “reference case” regarding polygamy, as to whether it should be judged a criminal act or a religious right. Although the case is about the polygamous Mormon community in Bountiful, B.C, the decision will have major repercussions for our laws and for other religious groups, including Muslims.

Over the centuries, many Muslims have accepted that polygamy is part of Islam, but I submit that polygamy is not allowed in Islam and that monogamy is the rule. I think the Quranic permission and the context are not clearly understood.

In the Quran, polygamy is mentioned in Chapter 4 – An Nisa/Women – revealed after the battle of Uhud, in the 4th year of the Hijrah. This is the migration of the fledging Muslim community from Mecca to Medina, marking the beginning of the Muslim calendar. In the battle of Uhud, many Muslim men were killed, leaving widows and orphans.

This is the historical context which is crucial to any discussion of polygamy, as permission was granted under these specific conditions.

I argue that polygamy is allowed, Verse 4:3, because of God’s concern for the welfare of women and orphans, left without husbands and fathers – men who died fighting for the Prophet and for Islam.

It is a verse about compassion towards women and their children, and is not about men or their sexuality, or their need for multiple sexual partners. It is an instruction to a tribal patriarchal society that these women and their children needed “protection and maintenance” and if the only way available was through marriage, then that could be done.

God instructs men, “If you fear that you cannot do justice to orphans, marry such women as seem good to you, two, or three or four, but if you fear that you will not do justice then marry only one…” This solution was to provide some protection for vulnerable women in a patriarchal society.

Polygamy is described as one option because men may “not act equitably towards orphans” or they may not take the responsibility for the welfare of these women.

If these verses are read anew, without the historical justifications, the clear message is that God fears unjust behavior on the part of men towards widows and orphans, therefore permits polygamy. But God knows that equal, fair treatment is unlikely for multiple wives, and therefore instructs men to only marry one so that “you will not deviate from the right course.”

In addition, the same point is made in Verse 129: “And it will not be within your power to treat your wives with equal fairness, however much you may desire it…”

Many scholars, such as Muhammad Abduh and Asghar Ali Engineer, have concluded in their interpretation, based on the gender equality stated in the Quran, that God would not put forward the argument that men’s sexual lust should be satisfied by multiple wives.

There are enough examples regarding a woman’s right to sexual satisfaction that it seems unreasonable to assume that being one of many wives is satisfactory for her.

Some men use the example of the Prophet’s multiple wives as justification for their own polygamy.

There are two considerations regarding this. Not all the Prophet’s practices can be translated as universal for all men, because he was not like other men. He had one wife for 25 years of his life, and it was only on the death of Khadija that he married other women. Also, many of his marriages were politically motivated, as he wanted to cement his relationships with his friends and with other tribes.

The Quran states that his wives are not like other women, and so many of the rulings regarding them do not apply to all Muslim women. However, this is not always fully explained or followed.

A powerful hadeeth (saying of the Prophet), is about the reaction of the Prophet on hearing that his much loved cousin and son in law, Ali – married to his daughter Fatima – was considering taking a second wife. The Prophet was angered that Ali would consider a rival to his daughter and he declared in public that if Ali wanted a second wife, he would have to divorce Fatima before he married someone else.

Surely, for those of discernment, this demonstrates not only a father’s concern for his daughter’s feelings, but of a man who understands the difficulties of treating multiple wives fairly and equally.

Over the centuries, Islam has been interpreted mainly by male scholars and though they have been well meaning and learned, they reflect their own times, cultures and assumptions. Because societies of those times allowed polygamy and because there was a restriction in numbers, scholars justified the practice stating that it is permissible under certain conditions. Fortunately there are other scholars, such as Asghar Ali Engineer, who conclude that “polygamy was contextual for that time and those conditions, and monogamy is the norm” for our times.

Some justify polygamy and then add that the wife can include divorce as her option in a marriage contract, if the husband wants a second wife. This is the worst kind of manipulation and cruelty.

First, the false assumption is that it is the prerogative of a husband, second that it is easy for a wife with children to demand a divorce so that she then has to leave her marriage and her children become fatherless. How is this concern for women and their children? Consider how many wives would exercise this option.

A Muslim marriage must be based on equality, mutual respect, shared responsibilities and love and compassion between partners, not on the superiority of one gender over another. The Quran is full of beautiful descriptions of the relationship of a marriage. Let us put these into practice.