A Sociohistorical Study of Polygamy and Justice

Marriage is a legal contract between a man and a woman, aiming to form a harmonious family. Polygamy, at the same time, is not a strange phenomenon. In fact, it is commonly practiced in Islamic societies. However, polygamy also often becomes a source of conflict in the household, causing the main purpose of marriage becomes obsolete and not achieved. Thus, it is interesting to study polygamy, especially from historical and sociological standpoints, to find its justice values. The question is whether polygamy is advocated in Islam or has historically only dealt with excessive acts of it during the period of ignorance? The purpose of this study is to provide scientific information about the law and history of polygamy and the justice values contained. This research will contribute and treasure legal knowledge. This research is a combination of normative law and empirical (applied law research). Normative-empirical legal research is a legal research that emphasizes normative legal rules (in abstract) and their application to legal events (in concreto). By examining the philosophical, historical and sociological law values as an approach. Historically, polygamy was practiced before the advent of Islam. Man is free to do polygamy with many women. The arrival of Islamic law has regulated the practice of polygamy, fortified it, and limited the number of wives a man can have, that is, a maximum of four, with fair conditions in order to preserve the women. This is a tolerant form of Islam that corrects the ancestor’s teachings before the arrival of Islam (the period of ignorance), between the shariah of Isa, as ahead of the coming to the shariah of Muhammad.