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

Dealing Justly with Wives and Orphans (Qur'an 4:3) (view source)

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 {{ quote || ''' "If you are going to pay Orphans Less of a Mahr, or are just marrying them to get their property/wealth (or preventing them from marrying), then marry other women, 2 or 3 or 4, but if you cannot afford them (mahr, or support) then marry only one or a captive that your right hand possesses (as the Mahr is half that of a free woman or even nothing). This is better for you, than being financially unjust with your women." ''' }}
 Quran 4:3 has nothing to do with treating your wives equally, its about the orphan's and their Mahr. Injustice in this verse is talking about financial equality regarding bride price (for orphans) and financial viability of having that many wives, not equality between them.
+<!--
+== Alternative Views ==
+Dividing the ayah into several pieces will make it easier to get a grip of the real meaning of it, which is not related to so called mahr story in any way.
+==== 1. And if you fear that you cannot act equitably towards orphans ... ====
+Orphan (yateem) is a child whose father is unknown. Unknownness can be result of any of the situations listed below:
+ - Father is dead
+ - Father can not be found in any way
+ - Mother has been raped or had sex with another man during pregnancy
+ - Child is result of adultery (zina)
+ - Child is of a maid bought or enslaved at war
+ - Child is result of adultery (zina) of a maid with a man other than her owner
+ - Child is result of allowed adultery of a maid with other man other than her owner
+Free orphans can be protected by other males whether they are related or not to the child. If a woman married another man after her husband dies or somehow gets untracable, her orphans (underage children) will also be under protection of the new father. Orphans of slaves are also slaves. But if a maid gives birth to a child of her owner, then the child is free.
+According to [http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/abudawud/017-sat.php#017.2867 Abu Davud], a child can not be called orphan anymore after reaching the age of puberty. Puberty can only be understood when the child experiences his first nocturnal ejaculation (wet dream) during his sleep if it's a boy or has her first period if it's a girl.
+So, the orphans that are subject to marriage are <b>underage girls</b>. Of course islam do not have strict rules limiting the age of marriage and as it's seen on Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, marrying to very young girls were also common practices amongst muslims.
+[[Purpose_of_the_Mahr|Mahr]] is by definition {{ quote || "is the amount of money to be paid by the groom to the bride, at the time of marriage" }} In fact it can be any good of certain value that both of the groom and the bride or bride's protector (her father, brothers, owner etc.) agrees 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 early stages of development of judgemental abilities with no experience of marriage or  mahr aggreement before. Therefore not paying mahr "justly" is definitely not an issue here.
+==== 2. then marry such women as seem good to you, two and three and four ... ====
+"Women" in numbers beginning from two, going up to four. In fact, four is not a limit here, considering the language of Qur'an, it's just a way of saying "as many as you need". Number 4 would have strictly been put in that way, if it was a limitation. Therefore, here it means "have as many women as you need to feed your desires". This definitely shows that the ayah is no way related to paying mahr justly, for mahrs of many women will definitely cost much more than an underage child with low judgemental and valuation skills. It is irrational for one that does not want to pay the child's mahr accordingly, to pay more mahr as an alternative. Approaching from the other side, knowing the uncontrollable [[Qur'an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Sexuality|sexual desires of muslims]], marrying 2,3,4 or more women (of any age) is always preferable than marrying to one, so an ayah ordering the obvious is unnecessary.
+==== 3. but if you fear that you will not do justice (between them), then (marry) only one ... ====
+Only in this part mahr is one of the possible reasons for the injustice. Marriage requires paying mahr, and paying different amount of mahrs to several women may cause problems between the wives. Also it is possible that problems similar to ones between between Muhammad and his wives might occur. Therefore, here it means {{ quote || "if you fear that you will not be able to act justly between your wives (economically and socially), then content yourself with only one" }}
+==== 4.or what your right hands possess ... ====
+Maids and slaves are referred as "what your right hand possess" many times in Qur'an.
+==== Summing up the explanations up to now: ====
+{{quote || "If you fear you cannot act equitably towards orphans, than marry as many as women you need. If you can not (economically or psycologically) handle many women, then content yourself with only one. If you can not marry even one, than keep going on with the maid(s) you already have"}}
+It is clear that the ayah is not in any way about paying an underage childs mahr justly, but about fulfilling one's sexual needs. But why would fulfilling sexual needs scare a man as long as he marries the orphan child legally?
+It is easy to deduce that the ayah is not referring to all of the orphans listed in 1st section, but some particular types.
+In {{Quran|24|33}} it is seen that the maids were also forced to prostitution by their owners. Maids or slaves were considered as properties, owners had the right to use them in any way they wanted. Maids were used for prostitution, as treat to owners' friends, for paying owners' debts etc.
+As stated above, the child would be considered "free" if the father was maid's owner. But if not, then the child would also be a slave or maid and used by the master.
+If a maid which were offered to other men, and also used by her owner at the same time got pregnant or vice versa then there was no way of knowing who the child's father was [http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/008-smt.php#008.3389] which would make the child an orphan and require the master decide the childs faith by whether making the child free by owning it, or making it a slave. If he makes the child a slave, then he would have all the rights to use it as a sex toy as well.
+==== Conclusion ====
+The orphans mentioned in that ayah are those maids' children whose fathers are unknown, for the maids were used by both their owners and other men. And the real meaning of the ayah is:
+{{quote || "If you fear from acting unjustly in the eye of Allah by using your own child as a sex toy (without knowing it), marry other women as many as you need (because they are definitely not your close relatives), but if you can not marry other women due to economical or other reasons, then content yourself with the maids you already have" }}
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