Importance Of Polygamy

Polyandry is a form of bigamy or polygamy where it is the wife who has more than one husband. There are a few cultures that practice polyandry, like the Nyinba people of Nepal who practices fraternal polyandry. This means that when a woman marries a man, she marries his brothers as well. However, this practice is prohibited under most jurisdictions. For example, in Islamic law, polygamy, or more specifically, polygyny (where a man has more than one wife) is allowed where they may have up to four wives. However, polyandry is not permitted.

This practice is usually frowned upon or simply prohibited for a number of reasons. In Islam, the main reason why polyandry is not allowed is because such a practice will create doubts about the parenthood of the child. When one man has multiple wives, the father of the child is not in question. However, when a woman has multiple husbands, as she is expected to mate with all her husbands, the father of the child cannot be so easily established as it may be any one of her husband’s that has fathered the child. Secondly, when a Muslim woman has another husband, this will create two heads of her ‘family’, this will then be against the concept of an organised family that Islam heavily promotes.

Maybe issues of paternity and organised family might be in question, but how about the moral standpoint of it? Issues like prostitution and homosexuality are widely debated on the terms of its morality, but how about polygamy, or more specifically,