Islam, by its nature, must be dominant. If we are living in a system in which some other ideology is dominant over Islam, then we cannot truly describe our condition as Islam. The weakness of the Muslims leads to many vicious cycles, and these vicious cycles can only be broken by jihad. One such example is the norms of marriage.

Because of the influence of kuffar on the Muslims, monogamy has come to be regarded as normal. As such, when a man goes to marry another wife, he feels the need to justify why he wants to marry a second, third, or fourth wife.

This often leads to him pointing to some defect in his first wife. He may complain, for example, that they have no children. He might say that he has some problems in his relationship with her. Because polygyny has a stigma attached to it, men fall into the sin of talking badly about their wives in order to defend their natural desire to marry additional wives.

Marrying more than one woman was common among the sahaba, radhi Allahu anhum, and yet we do not have a single report of them criticizing their first wife to justify their desire to marry another wife. When a man criticizes his wife in this way to justify his wish to marry, it is a form of gheeba, and this sin can gradually become normalized.

His wife may then feel deficient and insulted in the eyes of the society, and could be angry or even begin to hate her husband. Her unhappiness can then affect her marriage and the children. This in turn contributes to a negative image of polygyny. It can even lead to people thinking monogamy is innately superior.

This is extremely harmful, because the people begin to think that the deen, or way of life, of the kuffar is superior, which is a path to apostasy.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

الِإسلام يعلو ولا يعلى عليه

“Islam dominates, and is not dominated over.”

Al Bayhaqi, 5/106-108

When we try to apply Islamic principles in a situation where some other ideals are dominant over Islamic principles, it is not actually Islam, and it can make Islamic principles or legislation look bad, when in reality the un-Islamic rules and norms are to blame. Islam is a complete system, and if parts are neglected or abandoned, it leads to distortion and disfigurement. If you remove just one essential piece from a car, whether a wheel, the brakes, or the steering column, the entire car may stop functioning.

If we reestablish Islam in its entirety, the act of following the sunnah will become a source of pride that needs no justification or explanation. Polygyny is just one prominent example, but there are so many things which are integral to our religion, and yet which many Muslims feel the need to be defensive or apologetic about. This is a symptom of striving to conform to a dominant system other than Islam.

If we achieve a position of strength and independence, we will no longer need anything from the kuffar, and we will not seek any benefit from them in terms of wealth, technology, or security. If this is the case, and we rely on Allah and the believers alone, why would we be concerned about being accepted according to the prevailing norms of the liberal world order?

This is one benefit of not taking the Jews and Christians as protectors. As soon as we begin to take help from them, we will start to dislike doing something which might cause them to stop providing whatever help or support we take from them. We are then pushed to compromise in our religion.

It’s important to remember in this context that living under the political or military protection of the Jews and Christians is a form of support. As long as we are receiving support and protection, we will have a subconscious incentive to behave in such a way as to keep this support and protection.