Does Islam Oppress Women? 5 Myths Animation Series
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Does Islam Call for Muslim Men to Oppress Women with Polygamy?
Why can Muslim men marry four wives? Does Islam call for Muslim men to oppress women with polygamy? This video explores the context, history, and statistics of polygamy in Islam.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Does Islamic law oppress women? Myth number 5. Islam calls for Muslim men to oppress women with polygamy. The verse most cited to justify this myth is, again, taken out of both historical and literary context. They say it reads, marry women of your choice, two or three or four. But there are a couple of problems with this reading. One, polygamy, or more accurately, polygyny, is a practice that was already prevalent in pre-Islamic Arabia. This verse was restricting and regulating that pre-Islamic practice from limitless wives to a max of four. Two, this is only a tiny part of a single verse. Here's what's missing. The beginning. And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphans, then marry women of your choice. It was customary in pre-Islamic Arabia for male guardians to marry orphans in their custody, with no regard for them. This verse put an end to the practice and ensured the protection of orphan girls at risk of abuse. And here's the end of the verse. But if you fear that you shall not be able to deal with them justly, then only one, or that which your right hands possess, that will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice. This verse commands men to deal with their wives justly. And then verse 129 in the same chapter reveals that men will never be able to be equal between wives even if they strive to do so. The objectives of this misconstrued verse are clear. One, ensure fairness and protection for women.
And two, regulate the practice of polygyny by removing the potential avenues of abuse to ensure justice for women in the historical context they lived in. If that intent for fairness is not met, then Islamic law discourages or prohibits polygyny entirely. Still, images of angry, polygamous Middle Eastern men have long been a stereotyped trope used to demean Islam. But do they hold any truth? Let's look at some statistics. Polygamy is actually not exclusive to Islam or even a predominantly Muslim practice. One study found that only 5.7% of India's Muslims were polygamous compared to 15.25% of Adivasis. Hindus, Buddhists, and Jains also all had higher polygamy rates than Muslims. What do Uganda, Zambia, the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Iran, and Jordan have in common? Polygamy is legal in these countries. But the predominantly Christian nations practice polygamy at significantly higher rates than the predominantly Muslim countries, like 31.9% of the Republic of Congo compared to 3.8% of Jordan and less than 1% of Iran. And although polygamy is not legal in the U.S., a 2014 study found that we have 9.8 million people in polyamorous relationships. In certain regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the predominance of polygyny has actually been linked to the historical transatlantic slave trade. Polygyny is a practice that predates Islam. It's not strongly associated with any religion, but it varies geographically and historically based on culture.
So Islam did not introduce polygyny, but it did restrict it with noble goals in order to ensure fair treatment of women.
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