‌وَإِنْ ‌خِفْتُمْ أَلَاّ تُقْسِطُوا فِي الْيَتامى فَانْكِحُوا مَا طابَ لَكُمْ مِنَ النِّساءِ مَثْنى وَثُلاثَ وَرُباعَ فَإِنْ خِفْتُمْ أَلَاّ تَعْدِلُوا فَواحِدَةً أَوْ مَا مَلَكَتْ أَيْمانُكُمْ ذلِكَ أَدْنى أَلَاّ تَعُولُوا

“If you fear that you will not do justice to the orphans, then, marry the women you like, in twos, in threes and in fours. But, if you fear that you will not maintain equity, then (keep to) one woman, or bondwomen you own. It will be closer to abstaining from injustice.” (Surah Nisaa v3)

In the previous verse, the guardians of the orphans were warned against misappropriation in the wealth of orphans. This verse is an extension of this command from another angle. Here they are warned against marrying orphaned girls under their guardianship, hoping to get away by fixing a mahr (dowry) of their choice and usurping their properties.

During jaahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance), the guardians who had orphaned girls in their care would choose the ones who had good looks or owned properties of value and marry them or arrange to have them married to their sons. They would fix the mahr (dowry) of their choice, which was usually a very meagre amount.

This verse thus explains that if you apprehend that after marrying a girl under your guardianship you cannot do justice to her, then instead of marrying her, you should marry other women of your choice. In short, this verse lays down the injunction that total vigilance should be observed to make sure that the marital rights of orphaned girls are not violated in any manner whatsoever.

Through this verse, the permissibility of polygyny is understood as well. Polygyny was actually considered permissible in other religions, even before the advent of Islam. The truth of the matter is that a religion or law which aims to establish an infrastructure of chastity and modesty and considers the eradication of adultery as necessary has no way out except that it permits polygyny.

Apart from being a preventive measure against adultery, it serves as a remedial approach to the problem of larger female population as compared to that of men. If such permission was not granted, shamelessness and immorality will prevail. Hence, nations who do not permit having more than one wife live in rampant adultery. On the one hand they look down on polygyny and put a ban on having more than one wife, but they permit a man to practice adultery with as many women as he can get, under the guise of ‘friendship’ (and unlimited are the euphemisms invented by them, such as, ‘relationship’, ‘affair’, ‘consenting adults’, ‘union’, ‘partner’ etc). Disallowing marriage and permitting adultery is certainly very strange!

The custom of taking multiple wives was prevailing before Islam without any imposition of limits, i.e. a man could have as many wives as he pleased. The history of nations and beliefs shows that no religion or law had drawn a line in this matter. During the early period of Islam as well, this custom continued without being limited. As a result, people initially took many wives in order to satisfy their greed. Later on, they could not do justice to all of them. Hence, these wives lived like prisoners bound in the chains of marriage. Under such conditions, the idea of treating wives with equality was practically non-existent. It was the Quraan Majeed that stopped this great injustice prevailing in the human society at large. In addition to that, there are stern warnings mentioned in the ahaadeeth against inequality among wives, as will be explained.

After allowing up to four wives, in the very next verse, the Quraan Majeed explains that if a person is unable to maintain justice between multiple wives (as Islam has instructed), then he should only keep one wife. Hence, Islam permits marrying more than one wife; however, if a person does marry more than one wife, it will be waajib on him to treat them with equality; otherwise, he will be committing a grave sin.

Moreover, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) has laid great emphasis on maintaining full equality and justice between all wives and has given stern warnings against those who do otherwise. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) has said, “Whoever has two wives, and he does not treat them with equality, he will come on the day of Qiyaamah in a condition that one of his sides will be drooping down (i.e. he will be in great difficulty due to this condition).” (Sunan Tirmizi #1141)

Over and above that, he (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) has demonstrated the perfect example through his own conduct by going the extra mile in treating his blessed wives equally even in matters in which equality is not mandatory.

Towards the end of this verse, Allah Ta‘ala declares, “It will be closer to abstaining from injustice”. This means that if a person chooses to follow what has been mentioned in this verse (i.e. having only one wife in the absence of being able to do justice between more), it will help him in staying safe from doing any injustice and the chances of any oppression and transgression will be eliminated.

 (Adapted from Ma‘aariful Quraan vol. 2, pg. 284)