Family and Women Affairs

 Question 95: Why does Islam allow polygamy for men but not polyandry for women?  Where is justice here?

Family and Women Affairs

 Question 95: Why does Islam allow polygamy for men but not polyandry for women?  Where is justice here?

Answer 95: Only those who regard marriage as purely sexual relationship propagate this point of view.  They ask: “Why cannot a woman have the same right as men, of marrying more than one man?  The answer can be as follows: if a woman marries more than one man, the lineage will be lost, as the woman is responsible for pregnancy.  If land is not good for planting more than one kind of plant at the same time, how could a woman be good for planting more than one kind of semen at the same time?  Science has proved that out of millions of sperms, only one is able to fertilize the egg.  If the relationship of the woman is with one man within marriage, we know for sure that this fertilization has come from her single husband, not anybody else, even though the sperms are millions, but if the woman is married to more than one man, how could we know whose sperm it was that fertilized the egg of the woman; eventually, to whom should the child belong?  And which of these husbands will be responsible for this family?  Is it then justifiable that for the sake of equality with man in polygamy the lineage of children will be lost?

      Naturally speaking, the majority of women reach the age of menopause early. The age of menopause ranges between 40 and 50.  As to men, their potency continues until very late, on the one hand, and some women do not desire their husbands, which causes them sexual frigidity, which is much more common in women than in men.  Women have their menstruation and confinement periods, and some of them have long menstruation periods.  This prevents men from having sexual intercourse with them.