usage being that only he could inherit who could ride on the back of a horse and take the field against the enemy. The position was therefore this, that when a widow was left with orphans to bring up, she and her children would get no share of the inheritance, nor were people inclined to marry widows who had children. In 4:3, the Holy Qur’ān has therefore enjoined that if you cannot be otherwise just to orphans, marry the mothers of such orphans so that you may thus be interested in their welfare, and for this purpose you are allowed to contract other marriages.
A consideration of the historical circumstances of the time when this chapter was revealed corroborates this conclusion. It was a time when the Muslims were compelled to carry on incessant war against an enemy bent upon their extirpation. The breadwinners all had to take to the battlefield against the enemy, and many had been lost in the unequal battles that were being fought by the small Muslim band against overwhelming forces. Women had lost their affectionate husbands and young children their loving fathers, and these widows and orphans had to be provided for. If they had been left to the mercy of circumstances, they would have perished, and the community would have been weakened to such an extent that it would have been impossible to maintain the struggle for life. It was under these circumstances that the fourth chapter was revealed, allowing the taking of more wives than one, so that the widows and orphans may find a shelter. If you fear, says the revelation, that you will not be able to do justice to orphans, marry women (the mothers of the orphans) up to four, but only on condition that you are just to all of them. That by women here are meant the mothers of orphans is made clear by v.127, as already shown.
It might be said that other arrangements could be made for the maintenance of widows and orphans. But a home-life could not be given to them in any other manner, and home-life is the real source whence all those good qualities of love and affection spring, which are the greatest asset of social life and civilization. Islām bases its civilization on home-life; and under exceptional circumstances, where monogamy fails to provide a home for widows and orphans, it allows polygamy to extend to them that advantage.