Marrying Up To Four Wives

Critics of Islam often complain that the The Quran allows polygamy (which means a man can marry more than one wife) In Surah 4 ayah 3 which reads

Quran 4:3 "If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with them, then only one"

Response

Firstly when you read the verse you should Notice how Allah allowed polygamy only for helping the orphans (more women are needed to take care of the Muslims' and non muslim orphans after every battle.) Notice also how Allah ordered the men to be either fair to their wives or else to never marry more than one wife.

This ayah in the Qu'ran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (p) in Medina after he migrated to it from Mecca right after the battle of Uhud in which the Muslims suffered a dramatic decrease in the number of Muslim men. The Muslim men before that battle were approximately 700. They became only 400 after the battle. This loss had left so many Muslim women  Widows, and Not able to get married if they were single

Muslims had faced another battle against the Pagans in Mecca and its neighboring tribes who wanted to attack the Muslims in Medina to finish off Islam once and for all, and by the Jews and the Christians in Medina who betrayed the Muslims in the "battle of Trench" after signing a defense treaty with Muhammad peace be upon him against the Pagans, Muslims had miraculously won the battle against the Pagans of Mecca and drove them back to where they came from, and then attacked the Jews and the Christians who betrayed the defense treaty and kicked those hypocrites out of Medina

These continuous battles against the Muslims were very costly in terms of Muslim men's lives. The women had to be taken care of one way or another. For this reason, Allah revealed the Noble Verse 4:3 to Muhammad peace be upon him to solve the social problems that the Muslims were facing. That is why at the very beginning of the Noble Verse 4:3 we see Allah Almighty setting a conditional clause for Orphans "If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans...(4:3)." This Noble Verse came down for the purpose of protecting the Orphans and to increase the number of the Muslims by allowing the men to marry multiple wives (preferably from the grown Orphans at that time), up to four wives only. The purpose was absolutely not for man's sexual pleasure nor privilege, nor was it to support man's personal ego. It was revealed to solve a major social problem to prevent major sins such as illegal sex and prostitution.

In places like afganistan after the Russian war, there almost 1million widows and orphans, so it is more humaine that women get married in order to have protection, shelter, food, money rather than being left alone. Poligomy is a practical solution to a difficult social situation. Polygamy is not encouraged in the Noble Quran, nor Allah had allowed it because He really liked it. He was clearly careful to highly discourage polygamy to men by telling them "but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one...(4:3)" which clearly orders men to either be fair or to not marry at all, despite the fact that we lost many men, Allah Almighty still didn't want polygamy to really take place. That's why He later told men "Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if it is your ardent desire...(4:129)" which clearly nullifies the excuse that He gave them to practice polygamy. Is this a contradiction then? No It proves that when Allah  allowed polygamy, He only allowed it because the Muslims had an emergency; they lost almost half of our men if not even more. When Islam later became much stronger and Muslims defeated the infidels in the continues battles that were forced upon them (the Muslims), Allah nullified the excuse that he gave to men to practice polygamy, which would then lead to prohibiting polygamy altogether

Why Did The Prophet Muhammed Marry More than 4 Wives?

Prophet Muhammad (p) can be treated as an exceptional case. The Quran Verses above clearly talked about men and women in general. They apply to all men and all women. Prophet Muhammad was a Messenger of GOD and a leader for all Muslims. He didn't practice polygamy for the sake of sexual pleasure at all. Most of his wives were either widows (older than him in age too) or divorced women (also most of them were either older or same age). Only one of his wives was a virgin, and he only married her because her father was his best friend. He wanted to strengthen that relationship. And it was her father who offered her to our Prophet peace be upon him anyway

If our Prophet really wanted sexual pleasure, then he would've married young virgins from the Muslims. Back then, people loved Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him so much, that they would literally do anything for him. Certainly fathers would've given him their young virgin daughters if he wanted to. Many people offered him their young virgin bosomed daughters anyway to raise their families' honor, but our Prophet never seeked that sexual privilege in life

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a smart political leader and a wonderful humble merciful true Messenger of Allah, he chose to marry the weak from his people to encourage the Muslim men to do the same; to create a balance in the Muslim society. Again, another emergency case that existed during Islam's weak times that forced the Muslims to practice polygamy