[chotadipo]

Muhammad_4,

You can argue till eternity hiding under ambiguity and misinterpretations, but you must realise that Arabs of which Islam originated from were and are still are a paternal society. So when they invented Islam as their releigion, it had to fit with their social norms. Men were regarded as defenders of the community, so mechanisms had to be in place to make sure they remain loyal to the community. Two I'll list below;

1. They were allowed to marry more than one woman because in war like situations as happened in days gone by, the capable men who fight also happen to be in the age group that normally procreates. Since in war men die more than women, this can leave a dysfunctional society.

2. Allowing muslim men to marry people of the book and not vice versa would make sure the men lineage remain firmly muslims so that the society does not turn christian or jewish depending on which side wins the most wars or marries most across tribe.

This is evident even today. A Kikuyu man marrying a Meru woman will have his children defaulted as Kikuyu in national census. This eliminates the complexity of having someone listing tribe as 1/2 kikuyu, 1/4 kamba, 1'4 taita just because the wife comes from a kamba-taita union. Same thing Islam adopted.