COMPARISON OF
MARRIAGE LAWS IN THE
TORAH, GOSPEL, AND QURAN
It is expected that heavenly books should be in complete agreement and elevate humanity to the spiritual level intended for them by the Lord. Since God does not change, His laws cannot change. For example, God would not call holiness impurity in one of His books and then something else in another. Similarly, all teachings concerning righteousness, piety, virtue, honesty, etc., should remain unchanged in principle. This is evident from the following Quranic verses:
Surah An-Nahl {43}:
"And We sent not before you except men to whom We revealed. So ask the people of the message if you do not know."
And in:
Surah Al-Ma'idah {47}: "Let the people of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient." Surah Yunus 10:94: "So if you are in doubt, [O Muhammad], about that which We have revealed to you, then ask those who have been reading the Scripture before you. The truth has certainly come to you from your Lord, so never be among the doubters."
(This implies that the Gospel has not been corrupted.)
It is preferable to know that God was the first to institute, complete, and bless marriage, as stated in the Torah in the Book of Genesis, which God revealed to the Prophet Moses:
Genesis 2:18:
"And the Lord God said, 'It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him'" ... 21: "So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 20 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, 'This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.' 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh."
Throughout all the books of the Torah, we find that God commanded the husband to treat his wife (meaning his one wife) with goodness and love, and that He hates divorce. All prophets of God from the beginning of creation until the time of Christ adhered to the law of monogamy, such as Prophet Noah and his sons, and Prophet Moses. Some of them did not marry, like Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist.
Since there was no commandment forbidding polygamy, some people took more than one wife. This began with the offspring of the wicked Cain, the killer of his brother, named Lamech, as stated in Genesis 4:19:
"And Lamech took for himself two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah."
1 Corinthians 7:2:
"But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband."
God has forbidden divorce and separation except in cases of adultery, as in:
Matthew 19:3-12:
3 "And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, 'Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?' 4 He answered, 'Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.' 7 They said to him, 'Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce and to send her away?' 8 He said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.' 10 The disciples said to him, 'If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.' 11 But he said to them, 'Not everyone can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. 12 For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who is able to receive this receive it.'"
1 Thessalonians 4:3-5:
"For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body (meaning his wife) in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God."
Ephesians 5:28:
"In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself." (And do not be harsh with them. As in Colossians 3:19).
1 Peter 3:7:
"Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the weaker female vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered."
Hebrews 13:4:
"Let marriage be held in honor among all."
The Jews asked Christ if God allows marriage in heaven, and he replied:
Matthew 20:29-30:
"But Jesus answered them, 'You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.'"
Marriage in Islam
In Islam, the law of monogamy is not necessarily absolute, as in:
Surah An-Nisa {3}:
"And if you fear that you will not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry those that please you of [other] women, two or three or four. But if you fear that you will not be just, then [marry only] one or those your right hand possesses..."
Surah Al-Ahzab {50}:
"O Prophet, indeed We have made lawful for you your wives to whom you have given their due compensation and those your right hand possesses from what Allah has granted you, and the daughters of your paternal uncles and the daughters of your paternal aunts and the daughters of your maternal uncles..."
We ask: Why this change? And why the difference in principle?
From the beginning, the Lord God decided that a wife should be a helper to her husband, not for his pleasure. So why did the Prophet marry Aisha, a six-year-old child, and consummate the marriage when she was nine years old, when she needed someone to help her? She was not a counterpart, meaning suitable for him and capable of understanding him to complete the journey of life in the fear of God? Also, the Tenth Commandment in the Torah:
"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."
And the Prophet coveted Zaynab bint Jahsh, the wife of his adopted son Zayd, when he visited them and saw Zaynab distressed. He married her after her divorce from Zayd, his adopted son, and abolished adoption. Why did these principles differ in Islam, the most severe of which is the following, which completely disagrees with the principles of marriage decided by God?
Deuteronomy 24:1-4:
"When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, 2 and she departs out of his house and goes and becomes another man's wife, 3 and the latter man hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man dies who took her to be his wife, 4 then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the Lord. And you shall not bring sin upon the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance."
Surah Al-Baqarah: 209:
"Divorce is twice. Then, either keep [her] in kindness or release [her] with good treatment. And it is not lawful for you to take anything of what you have given them unless both fear that they will not be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah. But if you fear that they will not be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah, then there is no blame upon either of them concerning that by which she ransoms herself. These are the limits of Allah, so do not transgress them. And whoever transgresses the limits of Allah - it is those who are the wrongdoers. {230} And if he has divorced her [for the third time], then she is not lawful to him afterward until she marries another husband. And if he [the latter husband] divorces her, there is no blame upon them both if they return to each other [through marriage] if they think that they will be able to keep [within] the limits of Allah. These are the limits of Allah, which He makes clear to a people who know."
Establishing the Punishment for Adultery
The Quran states that adulterers should be stoned, but we find that the Prophet (peace be upon him) carried out this law in two cases where they repented to God and sought purification, and in two cases they did not repent and were left to commit adultery. In the fifth case, stoning was decided because adultery was proven according to Mosaic law as follows:
It is confirmed in Sahih Muslim and other narrations from Ubadah ibn al-Samit (may Allah be pleased with him) that Maiz ibn Malik al-Aslami came to the Messenger of Allah and said: "O Messenger of Allah, purify me." The Prophet said: "Woe to you, go back and seek Allah's forgiveness and repent to Him." He went back a short distance, then came again and said: "O Messenger of Allah, purify me." The Prophet (peace be upon him) said the same until it was the fourth time. Then the Prophet said to him: "From what shall I purify you?" He said: "From adultery." The Prophet asked: "Is he mad?" He was informed that he was not mad. Then he said: "Has he drunk wine?" A man stood up and smelled his breath, but found no smell of wine. Then the Prophet said: "Did you commit adultery?" He said: "Yes." So he ordered him to be stoned.
The Ghamidi woman came and said: "O Prophet of Allah, I have committed adultery, and I want you to purify me." He said to her: "Go back." The next day she came to him again and confessed to adultery and that she was pregnant. The Prophet said to her: "Go back until you give birth." When she gave birth, she came with the child wrapped in a cloth and said: "O Prophet of Allah, I have given birth." He said: "Go and breastfeed him, then wean him." When she weaned him, she came to him with the child: "O Prophet of Allah, I have weaned him." Then the Prophet ordered the people to stone her.
The Jews came to the Messenger of Allah and mentioned that a man and a woman among them had committed adultery. The Messenger of Allah said to them: "What do you find in the Torah concerning stoning?" They said: "We will expose them and flog them." Abdullah ibn Salam said: "You lie, for it contains stoning." So they brought the Torah and unrolled it. One of them placed his hand over the verse of stoning and then read what came before and after it. Abdullah ibn Salam said: "Lift your hand." So he lifted his hand, and there was the verse of stoning. They said: "You have spoken the truth, O Muhammad, it contains the verse of stoning." So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered them to be stoned.
Abu Dawud (2049) and An-Nasa'i (3209) narrated from Ibn Abbas that a man came to the Messenger of Allah and said: "I have a wife who is one of the dearest people to me, and she does not prevent the hand of a toucher." He said: "Divorce her." He said: "I cannot bear to be without her." He said: "Enjoy her." The meaning of a woman who "does not prevent the hand of a toucher" is that she consents to sexual intimacy with him.
112907: Prohibition for a man who has been away from his wife for a long time to come to her suddenly: Ibn Abi Jamrah said that this prohibits a traveler from coming to his family by surprise without prior notification of his arrival.
The reason for this is what was indicated in the hadith:
He said: Some people violated this and saw a man with their family, and were punished for their violation.