Why Polygamy?

"For I created Eve from the most crooked bone in Adam's Body, not to be stepped upon by Adam or Eve, but by each other, in harmony. For a woman is very much crooked, and brittle, easily broken and easily diverted or confused, only to be made straight not by means of violence but of love and care,with a huge lot of patience by Man"

That is my two cents worth of Polygamy. It is not an excuse. It is not a trick for the man to abuse the women, by marriage and divorce for Allah shuns people who divorce.

Imagine this? How many times have you seen cat fights? Women fighting each other because of one man in the new era.How many times do you see a family broken down, children in haphazard conditions because their father passed away, robbed of their love and care, and most of all, the financial and emotional support. Or a lady fancy another man who is someone's husband, eventually committing adultery and having complications like child out of wedding locks?

That is what Islam is all about. Being Charitable and care for the less fortunate, not just in financial and physical support, but emotional support.

Let's not talk about Man being unable to control their little Joystick and the lusty control for a hotter babe. That is being very chauvinist of me to speak of, but about the capacity of a man to share his capacity as a husband or more,a father to an orphan.

For once, being a man is more than just a man. A man is about being a leader and also a person who is passionate about their charges. Apart from that, alot of men, do get married to either Widows or Divorcee. Mainly because that a woman as such knew how to care much better for a man, plus that she is more experienced in bed. They tend not to make the same mistakes as what they did first time round.

Adultery is punishable by death in Islam. So the need to wear a Hijab to uphold the modesty of women does help, but not much in this new age, since the availability of pornography is rampant, and the 'cheap sale' of the women nowadays makes it worse. I remember back when I was working in an Engineering firm, that my Personal Assistant told me it is the norm to coax the boss up, in either to get promoted, to get married, or just in the bedroom to get up the boardroom. Which is shame, since she was just 19 and have a long life to go forward.

As such, it is norm to be married to another woman's husband rather than risking it all and getting a crook or an addict as a husband (of the family choosing;betrothed etc) while that man actually portray a Good image. And for the woman, it is much better to share and be at peace for the sake of the children, rather than risking it all and loosing it all, stability, love of a father for the children, and financial and emotional need. Sexually too.

Remember Solomon whom had 99 wives at one go?And the story of the Herd?

Polygamy does not mean one should just focus on the new wife or upgrade, but be fair to all, financially, emotionally and sexually. For Allah sternly warned that "the man who is not fair to his herd (of wife and kids) will find himself in shame and without any flesh on the other side (half) of his body,bare and just bones on the day of reckoning".

Being just is not easy. One can try as much as he could, but being man, he is expected to be just as much as possible; a loving father, and a darling of a husband.It is not just what the 'brother' wants but being able to satisfy all wives.. is not an easy task, especially taking care of a herd of kids.

For me..one wife and a kid is already a headache.What of two?

In itself, it is frowned upon to share the marital bed with all the wives, but each of them in a separate house and bed so that they won't clash with each other, but hoping that they can co-exist in harmony or better still..work together, taking care of each other kids, or even breastfeeding them. In the ancient times, (or even now), nursing mums are allowed in Islam for women who can't breastfeed due to health and medical reasons so that the best is given to the child/baby. Motherhood is very much looked up upon for it is a Jihad for a woman giving birth and nursing the child for 30 months (or how long she can breastfeed to the child).

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In the economic sense, the Family Unit is now being intact and thus does not become a liability to the common society by asking for assistance. In England alone, more than £750 Million was spent to help out families which are not complete, like Single Mothers, Kids without Parents, Single parent families, Child Support, Child Benefits etc.

In essence, by being a complete family, the family saves more money because they don't spend on unwanted items like psychiatric bills and medication, take outs and child care costs. On top of that, the cost of day care and baby sitter costs are avoided as the family is intact. In soothe, the parents can effectively go out to work instead of having to rely on support because of the need to pay childcare costs.

By being 100% efficient, a family unit gets more money coming into the family and the children are cared for properly.

The Singapore Government gave away $3000 for every child born to offset childcare and minding fees so that the parents can go to work . If only one parent is working, on average the income will be $1500 compared to $3000 plus for both parents, and in essence the workforce gets rid of the 40% of the non-working adult population totally contributing to over $1.9 Billion to the economy monthly which means $2.2 Billion in Taxes based on the adult population of 4.9 million residents within the City State.

Prohibition of Riba in Islam

Before I start debating on Riba, let us look into a little history of the Riba or Interest Rate Lending in the days of Christ.

Jewish communities are or have been known to be a bit cruel. In Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, Antonio is told to pay with a Pound of Flesh if he defaulted. In those days, someone who wished to borrow money, have to seek to the Loan Sharks within the Jewish Community which charges interest. If it is not bad enough, rates have been very high, chargeable by the week or even days. At one instance, if someone borrows 10 Coins, he is expected to pay 20 coins by the week end, otherwise, they will be sold as slaves. What about when someone can't pay? 20 coins become 40 coins due the week after and so forth. The interest gets bigger and eventually the borrower is engulfed in debt over a small debt of 10 coins and in those days, if you can't pay, you and your family become slaves. There is no such thing as Bankruptcy Proceedings.

Fast forward to the present day.

Someone is enticed with a credit card, with so little interest. There are hidden charges the potential customer don't know about like membership fees or late fees. He uses it. He pays his minimum payment. Hidden Charges and all adds up, for something he bought in cash, it will take him as much as 5 times the cost to repay over 32 months, taking the minimum to be 5% and the monthly rate of 1.5%. In Effect, he is actually paying just 3% or less of the principal.

What if he can't pay on time on certain period like Christmas? He gets slapped $50 late fee plus other fees. Fees adds to the interest and takes him longer.

That is why Islam prohibited Riba.

Come the Syariah way of Hire Purchase or No Interest Credit Card.

Someone wants to buy a TV from Sony. Costs $1000 in cash. The bank buys from Sony for him and charges the fee and inflation rate to the customer. If he agrees, the bank lends to him on the promise that the customer must pay say $1300 within a year. He must keep to this promise. There is a late fee as per agreed if he does that. Eventually, it cost him less to be on the Syariah method.

It's the same principle as a pawn broker. You want cash, you send something to the uncle for safekeeping as security.It's like a mortgage. When you have the money, you get your goods back plus a certain rate or fee you have to pay as per agreement. Think as it as safe deposit box rental.

It is actually to help business grow faster with their cashflow and not be ridden with bad debts or run away customers. To the customer, it protects their interest by not having run away fees and derail the economics of life.

In Islam, part of the Zakat or Tithes are set aside to assist people to get out of debt. That is like an insurance policy for everyone and helps the fluid movement of money within the community.

In Malaysia, a test case of a fully fledged co-operative bank running on Syariah principles made over ONE BILLION RINGGIT (US Dollars 350 Million) by practicing these methods. Even in the United Kingdom, HSBC Amanah Banking made over 1 billion in Profits and hold more customers than their conventional system due to the protection offered to their customers.

"Perform your Solat (prayers) and Pay your Zakat (Taxes)"..Firman Allah.