Polygamy misinterpreted; injustice to women & children: Grand Imam of Al-Azhar

Cairo: In his weekly TV show, Sheikh Ahmed El Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al Azhar, claimed that the understanding of polygamy has been distorted and the way it is currently misinterpreted and used is unfair to women and children.

Al-Tayeb, a leading Sunni scholar, said the practice came from “a lack of understanding of the Qur’an.”

Egyptian Streets has quoted him as saying, “We have to read the verse in full, and the part which says, ‘two, three and four wives’, is only part of the verse, and not the entire verse, as having multiple wives oppresses the women and her children.”

Asking, “Is the Muslim really free to marry a second and third and fourth? Or is this freedom bound by restrictions and conditions?” he elaborated, “the most important priority is the wellbeing of the woman and addressing her concerns, because she is half of society, and if we do not take their concerns in consideration, then we will be walking with one leg.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9_NMyATCU