I am curious to know why Islam permitted polygamy. Once I asked my uncle about this subject. His reply was that the man possesses very high sexual drive. Of course, many animal species too show this pattern of a male being with several female partners.
I faced this question from several of my Hindu colleagues and I used to reply that in early period of Islam, the male and female ratio was disproportionate due to continuous ongoing wars. In India, muslim man is permitted to have upto four wives while for Hindus and christians, it’s illegal. But surprisingly the statistics shows otherwise. Hindus practice more polygamy despite it being illegal for them. Hardly 1% of muslims in India, ever think of going for more than one wife. In educated muslim families it’s unheard and impossible to think, since educated muslim wife will not accept it and simply walk away. How is it so in Pakistan?
By nature males and females are born in approximately the same ratio. A female child has more immunity than a male child. A female child can fight the germs and diseases better than the male child. For this reason, during the pediatric age itself there are more deaths among males as compared to the females.
India is one of the few countries, along with the other neighbouring countries, in which the female population is less than the male population. The reason lies in the high rate of female infanticide in India, and the fact that more than one million female foetuses are aborted every year in this country, after they are identified as females. If this evil practice is stopped, then India too will have more females as compared to males
The Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase ‘marry only one’. There is no other religious book that instructs men to have only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the Vedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does one find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one can marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and the Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.
Many Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple wives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had several wives.
Female child having more immunity than a male child is a news to me. I have gone through medical and health topics in great depth and I am pretty sure that this is untrue. Immunity is not dependent on sex and this subject is too complex for me to discuss here.
Yes, female life expectancy is more at old age and the reason behind this is that older male undergo more stress than females because of its adopted role and life style and so are more prone to heart attack and diseases of that sort. Three particular areas in the world have highest life expectancy. One of these areas (In Italy), have practically same life expectancy amongst male and female.
[quote=“Barbie_Girl”]
The Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the phrase ‘marry only one’.
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“And if you be apprehensive that you will not be able to do justice to the orphans, you may marry two or three or four women whom you choose. But if you apprehend that you might not be able to do justice to them, then marry only one wife, or marry those who have fallen in your possession.”
also not to mention the many prehistoric societies. I am not sure if some primitive societies still exist in places like africa where polyandry is practiced.
look at it from the perspective of an arab male…who cant fornicate anymore due to the arrival of islam. they had to give them some leeway yaar…
so far i’ve come across two reasons that are given
a) there are more women in the world than men
b) man’s sexual drive
b) makes no sense actually, women’s sexual drive is different from man but in no way less. studies have proved this time and again. but cultures have dictated that women not express their sexuality and many religions have been wary of viewing a woman as a sexual being. the same with a) where the reason there are more women in the world is due to adapting to your culture and roles that society dictates.
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Female child having more immunity than a male child is a news to me. I have gone through medical and health topics in great depth and I am pretty sure that this is untrue. Immunity is not dependent on sex and this subject is too complex for me to discuss here.
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I don't know about immunity but the female has more diversity as both mom and dad donate an "x" chromosome (female is xx) while in males (xy), the dad can only contribute a y while mom gives the x.
Anyway, I am getting offtopic here so let's keep on discussing what you guys were fighting about.. :p
…but the fact was, and this is especially true during the coming of Islam, that there were more men than women…
Polygamy is allowed not for sex drive, but another biological imperative: procreation…large families were considered very very good…the larger the better…
The survival rates for children were incredibly low…
Actually, the fact is religions are wary of sexualizing women in the public space…at least this is exactly the case with Islamic societies.
Male machismo in Muslim socities tends to favour women with hidden sexual prowess…as sexuality is a strictly private matter…not sinful (as in original sin) or shamful mind you…just private.
