(from islamqa)
The ruling on plural marriage in Islam:
The shar’i text which permits plural marriage is:
Allaah says in His Holy Book (interpretation of the meaning):
“And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
This is a Qur’aanic text which shows that plural marriage is allowed. According to Islamic sharee’ah, a man is permitted to marry one, two, three or four wives, in the sense that he may have this number of wives at one time. It is not permissible for him to have more than four. This was stated by the mufassireen (commentators on the Qur’aan) and fuqaha’ (jurists), and there is consensus among the Muslims on this point, with no differing opinions.
It should be noted that there are conditions attached to plural marriage:
1 – Justice or fairness.
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one”
[al-Nisa’ 4:3]
This aayah is indicates that just treatment is a condition for plural marriage to be permitted. If a man is afraid that he will not be able to treat his wives justly if he marries more than one, then it is forbidden for him to marry more than one. What is meant by the justice that is required in order for a man to be permitted to have more than one wife is that he should treat his wives equally in terms of spending, clothing, spending the night with them and other material things that are under his control.
With regard to justice or fairness in terms of love, he is not held accountable for that, and that is not required of him because he has no control over that. This is what is meant by the verse,
“You will never be able to do perfect justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire”
[al-Nisa’ 4:129 – interpretation of the meaning].
2 – The ability to spend on one’s wives:
The evidence for this condition is the verse:
“And let those who find not the financial means for marriage keep themselves chaste, until Allaah enriches them of His Bounty”
[al-Noor 24:33 – interpretation of the meaning]
In this verse Allaah commands those who are able to get married but cannot find the financial means, to remain chaste. One such example is not having enough money to pay the mahr (dowry) and not being able to spend on one’s wife. (al-Mufassal fi Ahkaam al-Mar’ah, part 6, p. 286).
There are no other conditions.
no wars, no widows or other special circumstances required to marry more than 1 wife.
Now verse 129 shown in bold below
If a wife fears cruelty or desertion on her husband's part, there is no blame on them if they arrange an amicable settlement between themselves; and such settlement is best; even though men's souls are swayed by greed. But if ye do good and practise self-restraint, Allah is well-acquainted with all that ye do. (128)
Ye are never able to do justice between wives even if it is your ardent desire: but turn not away (from a woman) altogether, so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air). If ye come to a friendly understanding and practise self-restraint, Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful. (129)
But if they disagree (and must part) Allah will provide abundance for all from His all-reaching bounty: for Allah is He Who careth for all and is Wise. (130)
has a completely different context and doesnt even refer to polygamy. In the fatwa the shiekh gives another interpretation but even that doesnt deliver the meaning that is commonly associated to it. no so let's not play scrabble with the quran.
However, i can fully understand why people today generally dislike polygamy. It's something different and we aren't used to it. Till about 50-100 years ago polygny was an accepted norm and i can bet my life that 50-100 years from now polygny will be the norm again; the economics will demand it.
the economics of the industrial revolution demanded more workers and that's what brought women out of their homes in large numbers. It wasn't a movement or anything, it was basic economics. there was demand; a need for cheap labor and many poverty stricken women provided that. They worked long hours in horrendous conditions. The feminist movement came in much later when all the ground work had been laid and another 'excuse' was needed to bring more women to the work place. Nowadays women are expected to earn, working conditions have improved immensely and women have become independent hence the look of disgust towards polygamy in all industrilaized societies. Unfortunately, some people have come to believe that things will continue in this manner but they will be disappointed in the coming decades. Anyway even today in many developing countries (muslim and non muslim alike) where poverty and unemployment is high, polygamy is the norm; wonder why?
So i salute the sisters who accept Islam and all it's rulings for all times (past and future) and are not swayed by the disinformation around them in the present age of deception. Once the industrial age is over, we will be back to the future and polygny will once again become the norm. There will be very few jobs for women and men will resume their traditional role of protectors and maintainers as they have been doing since Adam (as). Naturally polygny will become accepted once again. The economics of the future will demand it!
Interestingly enough the main condition for marriage in Islam is that the economics of the man must allow him to maintain the wife and her children.