Abstract
All heavenly laws, and Islamic law in particular, came to remove hardship from people, to ward off harm from them, to achieve the interests of the servants, to make good things permissible for them and evil things forbidden for them, and to reform their affairs in the immediate and the future, in their preliminaries and results. Islamic law is also distinguished in explaining the reasons, causes, rulings and goals behind every legal ruling, whether in transactions or individual and collective human behavior. If an action is devoid of a purpose and goal, it is in vain, and God Almighty is far removed from vain. God Almighty said: “And We did not create the heaven and the earth and what is between them in play.” (1) And God Almighty said: “Did you then think that We created you in vain and that to Us you would not be returned?” (2). When a person is certain of the soundness and integrity of his law, he must exert himself to apply it and act upon it. Among these legal rulings is marriage, which is the Sunnah of God Almighty for His servants and a sign of His signs. God Almighty has placed in males and females natural motives and innate tendencies that guarantee the survival and continuity of the human species, and He has strengthened those motives and tendencies with controls and rules that guarantee the best, safest and most honorable paths for offspring in existence and continuity. The mutual innate need between man and woman has necessitated a connection between them. Based on affection, mercy and compassion that oblige man to nurture and care for his offspring, and woman was more suitable for nurture because of her superiority over man in terms of tenderness in nature, compassion and tenderness in heart, and man was more defensive and bolder in taking on hardships, so man’s livelihood was not complete without woman, and her livelihood was not complete without him. And certainly what is meant by livelihood here is not providing the minimum necessities of life (such as food, clothing and shelter), but rather in addition to that, companionship, connection and coupling that results in familiarity, love and cooperation and the formation of a family to be the nucleus in the body of human society. Therefore, Islamic law has established many texts in the Holy Book and the Noble Prophetic Sunnah that clarify this, and among these texts in the Holy Quran is the Almighty’s saying (And among His signs is that He created for you mates from among yourselves that you may find tranquility in them, and He has put between you affection And mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought. (3)
Among the texts of the Prophetic Sunnah are the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “No structure has been built in Islam more beloved to Allah Almighty than marriage.” (4) And his words, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “No Muslim man has benefited after Islam from a Muslim wife.” (5) These texts came to regulate this aspect of life, which is one of the five necessities and universals in the perspective of Islamic law, which are (religion, life, offspring, wealth, and reason), and preserving offspring is one of them, which can only be achieved through legal marriage. These texts contain what permits polygamy, and it is certain that this legal ruling was not legislated in vain, but rather came to bring about a general or specific benefit and to prevent corruption as well.