Polygamy in the text of the qur an, hadith and bible: Theory systems approach of jasser auda

Abstract

Polygamy is one of the most controversial public issues particularly in the context of Islamic law (sharia). Some people often consider it as something frightening. In fact, the Quran, the Hadith and the Bible had mentioned about it. This paper aims to describe a range of views on polygamy according to the text of the Qur'an, Hadith and Bible. The method is library research and descriptive-Analytic approach as well as historical sociology. Meanwhile, the approach of this research is theory system of Jasser Auda. The findings of this study are: polygamy in the context of Islamic law in the Qur'an and Hadith is allowed as long as the the wives and childrens needs are well maintained both economically and socially. Otherwise, it becomes unlawful consideraing the usul fiqh rules between the aspect of kindness (mashlahah) and the aspect of danger (madharrah). This is different from the Bible which implied that polygamy is free choice to take without limitations on numbers of wives and the related rules of it.