Dealing Justly with Wives and Orphans (Qur'an 4:3): Difference between revisions

This article will examine a common [[Misrepresentations of Islamic Scripture|misinterpretation]] of [[Qur'an]] 4:3, and evidence provided in the [[sahih]] [[hadith|ahadith]] as to the true meaning of this verse.  

A common explanation for 4:3 is to give the above '' partial '' quote of the verse and explain that a Muslim man ''may'' [[Marriage|marry]] up to [[Polygamy in Islamic Law|four women]]. However, if he cannot deal justly with each of the wives then he has, he is ''forbidden'' to marry that many; and can marry only one wife, to prevent treating women unfairly. Muslims explain that the use of the word "Justice" or "Justly" (depending on which translation is being used) refers to the man's ability to treat each of his wives ''exactly the same ''in every regard: not just materially (i.e. food, clothing, shelter, time, money, etc.) but also that he must be able to love them all exactly the same. He must be able to'' feel'' the same amount of affection and love for each of his wives.  

Although the ahadith above do not discuss the verse in its entirety, the [[tafsir]]s do. It is important to note that Aisha and the tafsir writers have defined "justice" for us. Kathir even makes it plain that 4:3 is not referring to perfect justice, so th alleged injunction against polygamy is invalid.  As "justice" is used twice in the verse in connection with two different types of women (orphans and free women) it is apparent that Justice means the same thing both times it is used. It would be incorrect to assume that "justice" means [[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]] in relation to orphans and something else for free women given the context of the verse. One more verse that needs to be considered in order to understand 4.3 is as follows:

[[Mahr (Marital Price)|Mahr]] is by definition {{quote || the amount of money to be paid by the groom to the bride, at the time of marriage }} In fact it can be any goods of certain value that both the groom and the bride or bride's protector (her father, brothers, owner etc.) agree on. In this scenario, where a man wants to marry the child under his protection, both sides of the agreement are either the protector, or the protector and an underage child which is still at the early stages of mental development with no prior experience of marriage or mahr agreement. Therefore not paying mahr "justly" is definitely not an issue here.

*[[Polygamy in Islamic Law]]