In this episode of Talk To Me, we discuss the controversial topic of polygamy. Is it something Muslims should be allowed to practice in today's day and age? Should it be allowed in a country where it's illegal to have more than one spouse? And should it be permitted in countries where polygamy is legal?
00:00:00.000I was just reading a post on Facebook, not now, a long time ago, and there was a profound statement a sister made, which I just found interesting.
00:00:07.140She was like, I would rather spend half the time with a good man than full time with a waste man.
00:00:23.800As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi barakatuh, brothers and sisters and dear friends.
00:00:26.620Welcome to another episode of Talk To Me.
00:00:28.220I'm your host, Ali Dawa, on this show.
00:00:31.360Before I start, I want to introduce our dear Devil's Advocate, because he's the main guy, actually, he has priority.
00:00:41.940My name's Hamza Paterson, I'm Devil's Advocate, so that role is to essentially contest the main arguments and try and show the other side of the argument.
00:01:05.980Okay, so today's topic is something controversial. Some brothers get excited when they hear it. Sisters get angry. It's the matter of polygamy.
00:01:16.200The question that needs to be asked is, is polygamy something that could be practiced in today's time?
00:01:23.380Brother Mohamed, what's your take on this? Do you think it can be practiced? Do you think maybe men take advantage of this?
00:01:30.620Well, definitely men do take advantage of this? Just as they do take advantage of many things.
00:01:40.240That surely man is in a state of transgression. And that applies to men and women.
00:01:46.980But generally speaking, going back to what you said, which was absolutely true, I think it's very important to note that in all of the ancient texts, almost without any exception, like for example, the Old Testament, you have Abraham has two wives and one concubine.
00:02:04.720Solomon has 300 wives and 700 concubines. In other texts, like for example, even the Sikh scriptures, six of the 12 gurus were in polygamous relationships.
00:02:17.840So this is not an exclusive, like Islam doesn't have the monopoly on this. And as you correctly said as well, like for example, liberalism as a political philosophy doesn't actually restrict people from, if they wanted to, practice polygamy.
00:02:34.720On order though, both brothers have brought, you know, fair arguments, but I would say the, on the other side of the argument is that, I mean, we're living in a country where polygamy marriage is forbidden.
00:02:48.220And as Muslims, we've been instructed by people of knowledge and whatnot, like we should obey the law of the land.
00:02:54.620And although it is permissible in Islamic law, there's nothing in Islamic law that has made it mandatory to us to go out our way to have polygamous marriage.
00:03:03.480So therefore, when you're looking at two sides of the coin where one is a legal stance on the country that you're living in to something where it's just merely, you know, permissible, I think now we should just take, I think we should just take, we should take the stance of not breaking the law.
00:03:21.660Just to kind of contest what you've just said there, it's true, what you've said is correct, it is illegal, but then that begs the question, why is polygamy illegal per se and adultery is not illegal?
00:03:30.900I mean, this is an incredible double standard from a moral perspective.
00:05:11.680Okay, let's go to this brother quickly.
00:05:14.080I do disagree with one of the sisters that said that it should be, it should not be hidden before nikah.
00:05:21.440Because, you know, as the law of the Qur'an, like, fitrah, a man might not decide at the point of nikah, the first nikah, that he's not going to do a second one.
00:05:30.440Or he's not going to involve himself in a marriage.
00:05:33.700But later, during the course of the same nikah, he might decide that, I want to get into another marriage.
00:05:48.540Sometimes, even for example, if a man said, okay, very liberal and said, yes, I don't mind getting into nikahs or, you know, how much Islam permits us to.
00:05:58.300And then if he declares that in the society we're living in, the first thing that the girl or, you know, the opposite gender will say, okay, sorry, I can't be with you.
00:06:09.820So then it becomes hard for the man as well, even though he's according to the Sharia and wants to.
00:06:14.920But shouldn't he be open if he says he wants to get married again, shouldn't he be vocal and open about that to his first wife, that I will do this.
00:06:21.580That's what the sister's trying to say, like, you should be open about it.