From: nadeem@igpho (Nadeem Malik)
Subject: Re: Contradictions in Quaran
Organization: Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, CH
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL3
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 17:03:46 GMT

Since just about everyone has given their opinion on this hot thread, I may
as well add my ta-pence worth of comments:

Polygamy and polyandry (sp?)
============================

The ban on polyandry (women with more than 1 husband) in Islam is not 
merely because the father cannot be identified etc. Islam seeks to raise the
moral standards of human beings to the level where they are not just seen
as an animal homo-sapien-sapien. In this connection, it should be well
understood that a family is really built by the woman of the house. No
wonder the Holy Prophet, when asked by a disciple who is the most important
in rasising a family, he replied 'the mother; when further asked who was
the next most important person, he replied 'the mother' again; when asked
again the same question, again he replied 'the mother'; only when asked
the fourth time did he answer 'the father'. On an other occasion he stated
one his most celebrated sayings, "Paradise lays at the feet of the mother".

From this, it is abundantly clear the position of the woman in the house
is paramount in raising a moral and spiritual household, and ultimately
for the building of society in general. 

If we look at the lower mammals, we see a curious phonomenon; the female
consorts with any number of males and the children can only be indentified
through her. The question is whether humans, as social, moral and spiritual
beings, could also practice this behaviour. The fact that human society
is built essentially on the moral and spiritual excellence of the mother
strongly implies that this should not be allowed under any circumstances ..
whther DNA coding reaches 100% certainty or not. A loose woaman in the house
means the moral decay and ultimate destruction of society.

I do not claim that Muslim men are not promiscuous in some countries and in
some social circles (although in comparison to the West this is undoubtedly
much less); but I do claim that the really big difference between Islamic
and Secular societies is that women in Secular societies are as promiscuous
as men. This is the crucial imbalance (or is it balance!) that is really
destroying the moral fibre of the Western orientated societies.


Polygamy is allowed, not recomended in Islam. It has been allowed to cope
with situations of (1) war (2) men travelling far from home for long times;
(3) severe illness of a man. (There may be other cases also.) In the past
travelling was a real problem, and traditinally it is alway the man who
travels. Polygamy in this context can be well understood. However, as
travelling has become easier, I think that this may cease to be an important
factor. Indeed, the more advanced a scoiety, the less polygamy one observes
even in Muslim countries.


Finally, this is going to be a real shocker for my Hindu friends, but I
promise that it is not meant to be a flame. When I was in Cambridge a couple
of years back, there was a Hindu girl studying Law. She was the daughter of
an Indian General. She was particularly interested in Muslim and Hindu
comparitive law in India, since that is a source of considerable agitation
in India. During one conversion with her, she revealed that actually in
India, there are more Hindu men with more than one wife that Muslims with
more than one wife! (I cannot subsatbtiate this myself, but I presume that
she knew better.) This surprised me at first. But on reflection, when you
study religions there are actually only two religions which actually
restricted the number of wives; Islam (4) and Christianity (1; but see below).
I found out that the Lord Krishna was supposed to have married hundreds
of women. Thus, Hinduism as a religion has no objections to polygamy. The
current Indian stance is purely a modern secular one. Note also thaty Jewish
Prophets had nomrestrictions on the number of wives they had (e.g. Soloman).


Finally, readers may be interested to note that the World Wode Anglican
church finally allowed polygamy at their last Lambath Coulcil, which is
held every 11 or so years. They said that in some regions of the world
polygamy is rampant; but this should not be prevented from receiving
Jesus in their hearts (or something like that). They meant Africa where
Christianity simply cannot prevent polygamy which is indeed rtampant 
their.


Regards,
Nadeem Malik
nadeem@p.igp.ethz.ch