Dealing Justly with Wives and Orphans (Qur'an 4:3): Difference between revisions

Dividing the ayah into several pieces will make it easier to get a grip on an alternative view, which is not related to the mahr story in any way.

Orphan (yateem) is a child whose father is unknown. This can be the result of any of the situations listed below:  

#Father is dead

#Father can not be found in any way  

#Mother has been raped or had sex with another man during pregnancy

#Child is the result of adultery (zina)

#Child is of a maid bought or enslaved at war

#Child is the result of adultery (zina) of a maid with a man other than her owner

#Child is the result of permitted adultery of a maid with a man other than her owner

Free orphans can be protected by other males whether they are related or not to the child. If a woman marries another man after her husband dies or somehow becomes untraceable, her orphans (underage children) will also be under the protection of the new father. Orphans of slaves are also slaves. But if a maid gives birth to a child of her owner, then the child is free.

According to [http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/abudawud/017-sat.php#017.2867 Abu Dawud], a child can not be called an orphan after reaching the age of puberty. Puberty can only be understood when the child experiences his first nocturnal ejaculation (wet dream) during his sleep if it's a boy or has her first period if it's a girl.  

So, the orphans that are subject to marriage are ''underage girls''. Of course Islam does not have strict rules limiting the age of marriage, and as seen with Muhammad's marriage to Aisha, marriage to very young girls were also a common practice among early Muslims.  

[[Purpose_of_the_Mahr|Mahr]] is by definition {{ quote || the amount of money to be paid by the groom to the bride, at the time of marriage }} In fact it can be any goods of certain value that both the groom and the bride or bride's protector (her father, brothers, owner etc.) agree on. In this scenario, where a man wants to marry the child under his protection, both sides of the agreement are either the protector, or the protector and an underage child which is still at the early stages of mental development with no prior experience of marriage or mahr agreement. Therefore not paying mahr "justly" is definitely not an issue here.

"Women" in numbers beginning from two, going up to four. In fact, four is not a limit here, considering the language of the Qur'an, it's just a way of saying "as many as you need". Number 4 would have strictly been put in that way, if it was a limitation. Therefore, here it means "have as many women as you need to feed your desires". This definitely shows that the ayah is in no way related to paying mahr justly, for the mahr of many women will definitely cost more than that of an underage child with low judgmental and valuation skills. It is irrational for one that does not want to pay the child's mahr accordingly, to pay more mahr as an alternative. Approaching from the other side, knowing the uncontrollable [[Qur'an,_Hadith_and_Scholars:Sexuality|sexual desires of early Muslims]], marrying 2, 3, 4 or more women (of any age) is always preferable than marrying to one, so an ayah ordering the obvious is unnecessary.

Only in this part, the mahr is one of the possible reasons for the injustice. Marriage requires paying mahr, and paying different amount of mahr to several women may cause problems between the wives. Also it is possible that problems similar to those between Muhammad and his wives may occur. Therefore, here it means {{ quote || if you fear that you will not be able to act justly between your wives (economically and socially), then content yourself with only one}}  

Many times in the Qur'an, maids and slaves are referred to as "what your right hand possess".

{{quote || If you fear you cannot act equitably towards orphans, than marry as many as women you need. If you can not (economically or psychologically) handle many women, then content yourself with only one. If you can not marry even one, than keep going on with the maid(s) you already have}}

It is clear that the ayah is not in any way about paying an underage child the mahr justly, but about fulfilling one's sexual needs. But why would fulfilling sexual needs scare a man as long as he marries the orphan child legally?

It is easy to deduce that the ayah is not referring to all of the orphans listed in the first section, but some particular types.

In {{Quran|24|33}} it is seen that the maids were also forced into prostitution by their owners. Maids or slaves were considered property, owners had the right to use them in any way they wanted. Maids were used for prostitution, as treats to the owners' friends, for paying owners' debts etc.  

As stated above, the child would be considered "free" if the father was the maid's owner. But if not, then the child would also be a slave or maid and used by the master.

If a maid who was offered to other men, and also used by her owner at the same time got pregnant, then there was no way of knowing who the child's father was [http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/muslim/008-smt.php#008.3389] which would make the child an orphan and require the master to decide the child's fate, whether to make the child free or making it a slave. If he makes the child a slave, then he would have all the rights to use it as a sex toy as well.

{{quote ||If you fear from acting unjustly in the eye of Allah by using your own child as a sex toy (without knowing it), marry other women as many as you need (because they are definitely not your close relatives), but if you can not marry other women due to economical or other reasons, then content yourself with the maids you already have}}