Saturday, April 04, 2009

Discussing polygyny in Islam

The topic of polygyny in Islam has been a topic of heated discussion over the years between the followers of Islam and other groups as well. Most organized religions do not have clearly defined rules pertaining to how many wives a man can have. But in modern society it has become the norm.
However followers of Islam have misused this rule till date often claiming minority victimisation if this issue were to be removed.
In a recent article in Chindu Why hedonistic polygyny is against Islam by A. Faizur Rahman tackles the same topic.
As most readers of this blog know, Chindu treads lightly when tackling topics involving reform of minorities and religions like Christianity and Islam. But this article is well written and provides historical details about the inception of the rule,
Even a simple reading of verses 4: 2, 3 and 127 will show that it was under such circumstances that the Quran allowed conditional polygyny, mainly to protect orphans and their mothers from an exploitative society.

But the author so cleverly blames women for their current plight without really blaming the religion and its structure of power which has resisted reform for centuries.
It is sad that Muslim women have allowed themselves to be subliminally brainwashed into becoming objects of sexual gratification for men, which has resulted in scores of them suffering in silence. It is time they broke free from the shackles that hold them hostage to the whims of a few patriarchal ulema who have stalled the progress of the Muslim community through their misinterpretation of Islam.

Its easy to tell the oppressed that they should break through the shackles as much as its easy to be an armchair critic.
However I will give credit to the writer for attempting to tackle a topic with some pragmatism which might kick off reform in Islam. Though I wonder if he would have the courage to speak out loud in a mosque.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Even though majority of the readers of 'The Hindu' are Hindus, the paper never discuss the problems affecting Hindus. Only the eccentrics on the extreme fringe of Hinduism, like Praveen Togadia, figure in the pages of the paper. Has any reader seen any report about persons/organisations trying to reform Hinduism, appearing in the paper? However 'The Hindu' is obsessed with Muslims & Islam. What is the secret behind this?

Anonymous said...

'The Hindu' is beyond repair. There is only one solution. Just stop reading the paper. As I have done. I live in Kerala. Now, I depned on Malayalam dailies(online editions) for local news. The HT online for national news & IHT online for international news. Believe me. This is an effective solution. By the way all the above come absolutely fee!

Anonymous said...

In today's important "news"

http://www.hindu.com/2009/04/06/stories/2009040654401400.htm

I don't know why the heck is this so important!!!!

Anonymous said...

The news is certainly "important" for Chief to fulfill his daily obligations and to show how loyal he is to the mainland. And how sweet of him to show us how the "Chinese President Hu Jintao helps a girl water a newly-planted tree in Beijing on Sunday." The girl looking neat and smart, and the President trim in full suit. In short, everthing great and glorious, wherelese but in China!