The reason why plural marriage is permitted for men but not for women

 

I have some questions about Islam, could you explain them for me? I think that Islam allows a man to marry more than one wife if he is able to take care of them in all in all aspects. Does Islam allow a woman to have more than one husband? Why not?.

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

With regard
to why Islam does not allow a woman to marry more than one man, the imams
(may Allaah have mercy on them) have explained the wisdom of the Lord behind
that. For example, Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

That is the
wisdom of the Lord and His kindness and mercy towards His slaves and His
taking care of their affairs. Exalted be He far above anything other than
that. His laws are above suggesting anything other than that. If it were
permitted for a woman to have two husbands or more, the world would be
corrupted, lineages would be lost, the husbands would kill one another,
there would be great misery and tribulation, and there would be continuous
trouble. 

How could a
woman be in a good position if she were shared by a number of men who were
fighting all the time? How could the men who share her be in a good
situation?  

The fact
that sharee’ah brings the teachings it does is one of the greatest signs of
the wisdom of the Lawgiver and His mercy and care. 

If it is
said, how come men are taken care of and given free rein to satisfy their
desires and move from one wife to another according to their desires and
needs, when a woman’s sex drive is the same as a man’s? 

The answer
is that because women are usually hidden behind veils and inside their
houses, and women tend to be more even-tempered than men, and less active
than men, and men have been given more physical strength and energy which
makes men’s desires greater than woman’s and men are affected by these
desires more than women,  a man is allowed to marry more partners than a
woman is. This is one of the things that have been given exclusively to men
and not to women, one of the things in which they have been given something
more than women, just as they are also favoured over women in that only men
can be Messengers, Prophets, caliphs, kings, governors and judges, and go
out for jihad, etc., and men have been made qawwaamoon (protectors and
maintainers) of women, taking care of them, working to provide them with the
means of living, exposing themselves to danger, travelling about in the land
and exposing themselves to all sorts of trials in order to take care of
their wives. 

The Lord is
Ever-Appreciative and Forbearing, so He appreciates the men's efforts and
has rewarded them by giving them something that He has not given to the
women.  

If you
compare the exhaustive efforts and hard work that men do for the sake of
woman with the jealousy that women suffer, you will find that the men's
share of effort and exhaustion is greater than the women’s share of having
to put up with jealousy. 

This is the
perfect justice, wisdom and mercy of Allaah, may He be praised as He
deserves.

 See also
Question No. 10009.