Polygamy

One of the most debatable aspects of Muslim Law in India happens to be polyga­mous marriages. The Quran, which is the primary source of Islamic Law, prohibits such marriages as a man cannot treat his wives equally.

But it is considered that it is opposed to human rights because there exists superficial understanding of custom. The reason behind it is that the British judges⁷ and most of the writers like McNaughton⁸ and Mulla⁹ and even some­times the Maulvis¹⁰ gave the impression that under Islamic Law, bigamous mar­riage has been fully recognized on the socio-legal platform without any sanction. Questioning the modernists’ oft-repeated “verse of polygamy” interpretation in the Quran, Professor Baxi stated that by offering this kind of interpretation they act as a partisan or a committed lawyer but not as a legal scholar.¹¹

Thus, if any social reform is to be initiated, in order to secure upliftment of women, it should be followed on the lines of Iyer J who was fully aware of the Quranic Law on bigamy and how it was misinterpreted. In his words:

The Koranic injunction has to be understood in the perspective of preva­lent unrestricted polygamy and in the context of the battle in which most males perished, leaving many females or orphans and that the holy prophet himself recognized the difficulty of treating two or more wives with equal justice, and in such a situation, directed that an individual should have only one wife. In short, the Koran enjoined monogamy upon Muslims and departure from reform is an exception. This is why, in the true spirit of the Koran, a number of Muslim countries have codified the personal Law wherein the practice of polygamy has been either totally prohibited or severely restricted.

The above explanation, based on primary sources of Islamic Law, leaves no doubt as to the true law of polygamy under Muslim Law.

IV.