Permissible number of wives in marriage

Since allowing anybody to marry any number of wives he wishes without limit is something which will lead to chaos, injustice and an inability to cope with the women's rights; And because restricting a man to only one wife will lead to evil and satisfying sexual desires by other forbidden means; Islaam allowed marrying up to four wives only, because that is the limit of the number of wives with which a man can be able to observe justice and cope with the women's rights, if at all he needs more than a single wife. Allaah the Exalted said:

{…then marry (other) 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 or (the captives and the slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to preventing you from doing injustice.} (Soorah an-Nisaa., Aayah 3)

And during the time of the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam), Ghaylaan al-Thaqafee accepted Islaam while having ten wives under him. Thus, the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) directed him to choose four of them and divorce the rest. Also, Qays ibn al-Haarith said: "I accepted Islaam while having eight wives, then I came to the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) and told him that, and he said:

«Select four out of them.»

The benefits of (allowing the marriage of) wives up to this number:

1) Sometimes it may be absolutely necessary to do so such as the case where the wife is elderly or sick or if he were to restrict himself to her he cannot safeguard his desires and she has children with him. For, if he holds on to her he is afraid he will fall in to difficulty by forsaking sexual affairs or he may probably be afraid of falling into adultery. But, if he were to divorce her, he will separate her from her children. Thus, this problem cannot be eliminated except by the only solution: Polygamy (marrying more than one wife);

2) Marriage is a means for relationships and ties between people, and Allaah has made it co-equal with kinship where he says:

{And it is He Who has created man from water, and has appointed for him kindred by blood, and kindred by marriage...} (Soorah al-Furqaan, Aayah 54)

Thus, polygamy links between several families connecting them to each other and this is one of the reasons why the Prophet (sal-Allaahu 'alayhe wa sallam) married a number of wives;

3) It leads to the protection of a large number of women and (providing) their needs such as feeding, accommodation, and a lot of children and descendants (result from it). All of these are things aimed at by the Islaamic Law;

4) Among men, there are some who have strong desires and cannot be satisfied by a single wife, even though they may be pious, clean and afraid of adultery. But, they want to fulfill their desires through legal means. Thus, out of the mercy of Allaah to His creation, He allowed them to have more than one wife in a safe manner.