Aslam

Praise be to Allah.The phenomenon of

widespread spinsterhood (women remaining without husbands) is caused by a

number of things, including the following:

1 – Demanding too high a mahr, and the inability of young men

to bear the expenses of marriage.

2 – Girls refusing to marry early on the grounds that they

want to complete their education.

3 – Girls refusing to get married to a man who already has a

wife.

4 – Difficult conditions imposed by the wife’s family or the

husband’s.

The ways to solve this problem are as follows:

1 – The girl’s family should look for a suitable man who can

make their daughter happy, and not seek to make excessive demands with

regard to the mahr. Rather they should look for a man who is religiously

committed and has a good character, who will be able to protect their

daughter’s religious commitment and chastity, and make her happy.

2 – Girls should not refuse to get married on the excuse that

they want to continue their education, so that they grow old and reach an

age where they can find no one to marry them. It is possible to come to an

agreement with their husbands that they will continue their education after

they get married. That is easy to do, praise be to Allaah.

3 –  A girl should not regard a man who

proposes marriage to her when he already has a wife as unsuitable for her or

unable to make her happy. Many girls refuse to accept a man who is already

married, then time passes and they get too old and cannot find anyone to

marry them. But Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet permit a Muslim man to

marry up to four women, on the condition that the man treat all his wives

fairly.