Polygamy is permissible in Islam. As Allah (S.W.T.) authorized man to many up to four wives, provided that he should treat them all as equals and should not distinguish one of them above the others.
Islam considers man to be responsible of observing equally and justice among his wives in all kinds of material treatment as equality among them in habitation, clothing and all means of adequate support. But strict equally in emotions and feeling is beyond the ability of man, therefore he is not obliged to treat his wives on the same foot in emotional matters.
Alla (S.W.T.) stated in the Quran: “You will not be able to deal equality between your wives”.
The commentators of the Quran are in agreement that this verse refers to equality between wives in emotions and feelings of love. Such equally which is beyond man’s ability should not be a reason to justify abolishing polygramy.
Allah (S.W.T.) authorized his messengers in all ages to many more than a wife, because He knows better what is more favorable for his bondsmen. It is a fact that a healthy man has the ability to satisfy the sexual desires of four women. Should he restrict himself to only one wife, as Christians and others do, and as what Muslim pretenders call to, this will arise many different kinds of corruption.
1. If the husband is a good believer and obedient to His Lord’s commandments, restricting himself to only one wife will not satisfy his desires, especially in the periods of his wife’s mens, childbirth, sickness and in the last months of pregnancy. Certainly he will feel deprivation during these periods.
2. If the husband is a disobedient sinner and does not confine himself to the commandments of Allah (S.W.T.), monogamy with incite him to commit adultery and abandon his wife. Some of those who oppose polygamy are sinful adulterers who commit fornication and indecency shameless with an unlimited number of women. A man committing lewdness and fornication while declaring himself to be an open antagonist to polygamy is condemned to be unbeliever.
3. Monogamy deprives a great number of women of their legitimate right to being married and having children. In times of wars and disasters, death rate among men is proportionally high. In these cases, polygamy is the best means to extend the circle of marriage to combine a great number of widows and unmarried women and give them shelter and honorable life. It is a clear fact that Islam, by regulating polygamy, has treated women with justice and mercy. Islam preferred the interests of women taken altogether to the individual feeling of jealousy or grief which a wife suffers in case of polygamy. Those who oppose polygamy are the real enemies of women, virtue, and prophets of Allah (S.W.T.). Individual feelings of jealousy or grief should never be taken as a basis to impede laws and systems regulated by divine laws.
However, Islam authorizes the wife to stipulate a condition in her marriage contract that she will have the right to be divorced by her own will, if her husband marries a second wife. According to Islamic law, the husband has no right in this case to reclaim from his divorced wife the possessions, cash, or gifts that he had given her, however property acquired through conjugal is subject to Shariah Islamic law which is distribution and division of properties after divorce.
Divorce is permissible in Islam to enable the couple to terminate their disputes and unhappy life, so that each one of them may start a new happier life with a new mate. Divorce in Islam puts an end to unhappy matrimonial life and removes all dead-locks that can prevent people from happy, natural and honourable life.