Ruba Mansour, Mamdouh Bitar
, the peoples of the region have become the laughingstock of the nations. Some of these peoples want to continue legalizing polygamy, while no such legalization exists among the rest of the world’s nations. While the rest of the world’s nations are advanced, the nations that practice polygamy are not only backward, but also starving and in severe crisis.
Reality proves the existence of sexual practices between a man and several women, or between a woman and several men. All of this occurs within the framework of the freedom of man to dispose of his body as he wishes, and these practices have no relation to married life and the duties and rights associated with it. The system of rights and duties differs from one people to another. Generally, the rights of the wife in this region are non-existent, while the rights of the husband are comprehensive in all aspects of life, including sexuality. The woman in this region must satisfy the sexual needs of the man while she is submissive, and when she refuses, he is permitted to beat her in a way that does not break her skull, arms, legs, etc. The male monopoly of rights includes all other aspects of life, from economic to social, etc. The wife, for example, cannot travel anywhere without his consent, but he can travel anywhere without her consent. He can also marry up to three wives, in addition to his right to marry an unlimited number of his right-hand possessions. All of these practices are rejected by the overwhelming majority of the world’s societies, and are also rejected by international institutions such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The legitimacy of sexual freedom is one thing, and marital infidelity is another. Sexual freedom does not mean the practice of marital infidelity. The union of a man and a woman within the family system means the end of celibate sexual freedom for either of them. It also means the end of other freedoms, such as economic and social freedom. In other words, they have become one. In return, society grants the family a different kind of freedom and status that a single man or woman does not enjoy. The whole matter is a transition from one system to another, and from one type of freedom to another.
Much has been said about the harmful effects of polygamy on the husband and the first, second, or third wife, especially with regard to the children and social and economic life. It is also true that polygamy means destroying one family and establishing another on its ruins, then destroying the second family and establishing a third on the ruins of the first and second. Furthermore, it is also true that polygamy is a very difficult social situation. How can a man with multiple wives deal with other families consisting of a man and a woman? This is in addition to the psychological disturbances that affect everyone, from the children to the wives and husband, and the hostile atmosphere within the family between everyone, i.e. wives, husband, and children. Not to mention the economic situation that, in most cases, forces everyone to live in poverty, misery, jealousy, and envy! After mentioning some of the disadvantages of polygamy, we want to ask the following question: What are the benefits of polygamy? The answer is that there is absolutely no benefit from polygamy. Therefore, the legitimacy of polygamy is nothing but illegitimacy. It is a beastly matter that destroys society and finds its personal justification in the whims of an individual who is not qualified to marry one woman, so how about two, three, or more women? In this regard, some rely on a Quranic reference (Marry whomever seems good to you, etc.) that incites them to evil on the one hand, and forbids them from evil to the point of prohibition on the other hand. Thus, the contradiction of the verse occupies their minds, as the verse is antithetical in itself and contradicts itself, and its first half cancels out its second half and the second cancels out the first