Polygamy, as defined by social scientists such as John C. Macionis (2003), refers to a marital relationship that involves three or more people. Polygamy takes two distinct forms. The most common form is one in which one male and two or more females are united. The less common form, known as polyandry, is marriage that unites one female and two or more males. This particular version of multiple mates is rare, and is found in rural Tibet where agriculture is difficult and food requirements have led to a marital system in which a single woman literally needs the assistance of two or more male mates to provide for a family (Macionis, 2003).
The more common form of this practice - in which one man acquires two or more wives - is associated with the Mormon faith in the West and Islam across the world. In Islam, a man is permitted to have up to four wives at any point in time - so long as he can provide equally for them and their children (Armstrong, 2004). While the Qur'an, Islam's "Holy Book" containing the revelations of Allah to his Messenger, Mohammed, specifically permits polygamy, in many Islamic societies the practice is being eliminated. Elsewhere, though widely practiced, polygamy is coming under attack as a practice that is difficult to justify ethically, difficult to maintain in the spirit of equality and fairness for all involved parties, and ultimately both financially and emotionally costly (Hourani, 1995; Badawi, 2006). This brief essay will focus on the Muslim approach to polygamy, outlining its significance in shaping family relations and exploring challenges to the practice that are emerging in many Islamic countries today.
In contemporary Islamic societies, polygamy constitutes about 12 percent of all marriages (Tucker, 2004). Elsewhere, among tribal peoples in Africa (including both Muslims and non-Muslims), polygamy is more common and may involve as many of 50 percent of the people in any partic...