:bism: (In the Name of God, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful)
@AntiScimitar
1) I haven't watched the video of Dr. Zakir Naik - so, I will refrain from commenting on that aspect. However, I'm happy to point out the glaring flaws in your argument. It doesn't matter whether a population at one time, like currently, may slightly have a higher male population than female population. Because as you may know, wars, famine, pestilence, and other matters have known historically to drastically change these population figures and in favor of females outnumbering males. And as you may have reason to know, Qur'an is understood to be a timeless piece of guidance, not only guidance for 2017 or 7th century Arabia. That means that whether or not in 2017 there is slightly a higher male population becomes irrelevant to the fact that polygyny becomes a valid option to exercise for men or women who do want to avail themselves of that option. However, for example, in the U.S. while LGBTQ marriages are no longer banned, bigamy or even polygyny is banned. And I don't see any legitimate grounds for that to be the case, especially as communities who practice polygyny have been known to build strong communal and familial ties that ensures the burden of raising the children doesn't fall on nuclear families as is the case typically in the Western world.
2) Your argument here is an entire fail. The entire reason that the media has broken the story of sexual harassment, as is the current case now known to be in Hollywood, is because women have not been able to handle the sexual harassment alone. For example, the former Charmed actress Rose, was paid approximately $100,000 of hush money to keep her mouth shut about this matter for more than a decade and also blacklisted by the Hollywood elite on the say-so of a disgusting character like Harvey Weinstein. So, yes, while I am all in favor of women being treated as autonomous creatures, don't downplay the human side of being a woman. For example, when I was in college, I had a professor of approximately at that time my maternal grandfather's age hitting on me; I did not complain to the department simply because he was in a position of power over my grades and I didn't want to make a big deal of the matter. So, while I do not know that women have a tougher time finding jobs, I do know that male privilege is real but that doesn't mean that polygyny is an extension of that privilege because polygyny in Islam specifically is practiced with keeping foremost the rights and justice due to the wives should a man chooses that option for himself. Also, Islam doesn't necessitate that a man marry more wives than one; a man is always free to marry only one if he feels that the responsibilities of maintaining households and families is too much for him either financially or mentally. Moreover, there are men in the Western world who without marrying any woman have had girlfriends and one-night stands from which either pregnancy, abortions, or STDs have resulted. My question to you is who is taking care of these women - the child from the birth to adulthood, mental trauma of abortion, or STDs? There's an entire book written about the feminization of poverty by Valerie Polkov, and that is mainly a Western contribution. Maybe, just maybe this type of feminization of poverty wouldn't exist if polygyny was allowed to be practiced. Moreover, women that way are able to choose high-value men. For example, in the Western world especially, females are becoming more educated than males on average and graduating with advanced degrees; men, however, are simply unable to compete on that level and so are found to be falling short. So, why should not a woman be able to have a wider pool of men to choose from, which would occur by default if married men were also on the consideration table!
3) Islam doesn't prohibit a marriage of any man or female if the other person is poor. However, males generally in Islam are endowed with the responsibility of ensuring that womenfolk are not suffering, whether as widows, divorcees, single women (raped, non-virgin, virgin, etc). Just as Islam ensures that children are endowed with the responsibility of taking care of their older folks; it is not because the older folks are not always capable of taking care of themselves. Yes, there are many females, especially in the Western world, able to take care of themselves. But if they can be made available the option of married men, some would definitely choose that over their single, widowed, or divorced state, because that to them would constitute freedom from loneliness and fulfill the innate desire that is in every human being concerning having a companion.
4) No, the last thing a raped woman needs is an inconsiderate man who will either pressure her to have sex or be unable to deal with the emotional, mental, and physical trauma of the rape that she's suffering. However, a raped woman does need supports. In the Western world, there are support groups created for the sole purpose of helping women who were raped to be able to feel that they're not alone, that they're believed, and that they're supported. If a raped woman finds a man who is considerate and will love her and will be sensitive to her emotional, mental, and physical needs, I doubt she will want to stay alone or single for long. Every one of us, old, young, or whatever, naturally desires someone to understand us. Islam is built on the concept of compassion and mercy. And mercy begets mercy. If a woman finds a man who cares about her, raped or not, her heart will incline towards him. And marriage may well be the natural outcome of her heart inclining towards him. You are right that rape victims will not have their life problems automatically solved through marriage; but it is said that "two minds are better than one" as an idiom. So, why can't we here similarly believe that "two hearts are better than one," especially to deal with the trauma of rape?
5) The world doesn't revolve around the Western world. There are still many places in the world in which women are dependent financially on men. So, in those parts of the world, if the main head of the household dies, it is never their first choice to turn to prostitution. But if they have mouths to feed and relatives on whom they cannot depend for financial support, these women will turn to prostitution. In fact, I recall in law school seeing an entire film documentary on India's prostitutes who were working in this manner to earn money to feed their children because they had been long ago evicted or turned away from having any type of financial support from their relatives.
6) Do you know that a man cannot withdraw his penis from his wife's vagina until she is sexually satisfied as reaching sexual satisfaction is considered as much her right as his? Islam cares about sexual satisfaction for both male and female and thereby your argument here is baseless. Moreover, for a man who claims to like science, you seem to completely miss the reality that men have more testosterone, which has been directly linked to sexual drive. On the other hand, women do not have as much testosterone. So, while, yes, women do also have desires, women do not usually have or experience desires on the same level as men. Also, science has proven that women are seduced by touch whereas men are seduced visually - so, in a highly pornified society, men are likely to experience that desire even more. Islam functions as a protection umbrella under which both men and women can bask and therefore the allowance of more than one wife is a mercy for men whose sexual drive is such that his wife may alone may not be able to satisfy with him especially if she does not have the same level of sex drive as him.
7) Let me tell you as a woman (and I do believe I speak for the majority of world's women): We do not want to have sex with four men even if it had been allowed as we're naturally inclined towards having one man love us completely and sincerely; there are cultures in the world that women have more than one husband, and it's been found of course that in those tribes or societies it cannot be gauged who the child's father is once the woman is pregnant. If not having to deal with trite and pretty catchphrases like "equality" that obfuscate the issues, women would naturally incline more towards what is just or fair for their gender as a whole rather than "equality." In a silly but relevant example, equality would mean that a 200-pound man is given the same heavy carton of boxes to carry as the 70-pound child. However, Islam doesn't aspire towards notions of "equality" that can create injustice. Rather, Islam aspires towards mercy and justice in the balance. Therefore, Islam doesn't say that women are allowed to marry four men because it would create injustice towards both her and her male partners; for one, a woman may not desire to have sex during her menstrual cycle, which means that she would be "out of cycle" (pun intended) for at least 5-10 days and therefore the four males if she were allowed to marry four would have to wait out that cycle creating unfairness for them if loyalty was part of that marriage's bargain. And two, women would be vaginally sore if were expected to service four men. Sorry, women do not have the desire or the capability to do justice in this scenario, which is why your entire argument here like from 1-6 is bogus.
And FYI, just because you're an atheist, doesn't mean you've acquired any type of wisdom or logic or great knowledge to criticize Islam because I've seen you over and over making arguments with loopholes a mile wide and sky high. You just hate Islam as you've proven; yes, we get it. If you don't want Islam, that's great. Islam is meant for people willing to be sincere to God, which you're entirely not in the mood or frame of mind to be; when you are, we can talk. Until then, you're just another person who has an Internet connection and access to a site which allows you to speak your mind.
Peace.
