Islam Didn't Permit Polygyny, Nature Did!

High Marriage Market Values Will Inevitably Result In Polygyny

First of all we need to define marriage market value; it is the sum of the factors that are considered when a person is to be married. Some people call this sexual market value but the idea is the same. This set of factors differ per gender and to different degrees. For our purposes we will label them as universal factors (i.e. 99% of a gender considers this a desirable trait) or conditional factors (i.e. considerable portion of members of that gender considers this a desirable trait).

For example, some factors in the man's marriage market value that are universal are factors involved in preselection: wealth, power, status, hygiene, fitness, health, ambition, persona, good looks, and strength. Some conditional factors involved in a man's marriage market value that are height, emotional softness/hardness, character, piety, aggression, dominance, sexual history, and humor.

Some universal factors involved in the female marriage market value are age, beauty, and health. Some conditional factors include sexual history, education/intellegence, the ability to cook, the ability to parent, similar interests, skinny/fat, talks less/a lot, submissive/assertive, social skills, and persona.

Anyway, the point of this piece is not to determine what factors are important or not to the opposite gender but to point out that there is inequality in marriage market value: that some guys have the ability to marry a higher value woman than others.

Now as for how this relates to polygyny...

If as a male, you increase your MMV (marriage market value), you can become more desirable to a woman. If you can increase it enough, multiple women would desire you if you are single. If you increase it even more, women would desire you even if you are already married. If you increase it even more, women would be willing to share this man in marriage and marry him regardless of his polygynous nature (it seems as though polygyny subtracts from MMV from public opinion).

In a snapchat video of a non-Muslim woman in a relationship with a polygynous man (i.e. this woman has sister-wives), she says, "It is better to have a quarter of a real man than to have a whole of a fake man," indicating that she would be in this relationship with a man of such high MMV than in a more focused, dedicated relationship with a man of average MMV.

This explains why in classical stories, only princes and kings would have harems. This also explains why the elite in the Gulf are able to marry multiple women (it is important to note that religiosity is not necessarily correlated with a high MMV and the thought that the more Islamic you are the more likelier you are to have four wives, this is bollocks). This also explains why in the West, some women would tolerate a cheating husband if he is of high MMV than if he was of a low MMV. This also explains why women would willingly be the wife of the Prophet (pbuh) because the Prophet had a massive MMV (because being recognized as a Prophet would give you a great social status. Even in nature, bison increase their status and therefore increase their MMV in a herd by fighting with other males. Whichever bison wins the battle is usually stronger to begin with, more aggressive, and more competitive, can thus better protect the herd, and most importantly has increased sexual access to the females of the pack. Thus these traits are associated with a high MMV; and we can see these traits being associated with a high MMV in humans too!

Allah designed humans to survive and thus put these mate preferences in us! Allah also designed the Sharia to be consistent with human nature as He created both! It seems as though within societies, polygyny of some form will be inevitable because it is natural that if there is some sort of status inequality that exists between the people, and inequality is a fact because there are genetic differences between humans, that some women would be willing to share a man of high MMV! And what do you think the man will do? Benefit himself, for it is natural!

And Allah has favored some of you over others in provision. But those who were favored would not hand over their provision to those whom their right hands possess so they would be equal to them therein. Then is it the favor of Allah they reject?

16:71

And as a result of this Allah has permitted polygyny but only up to the famous number of four.

And if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls then marry (other) women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one or (slaves) that your right hands possess. That is nearer to prevent you from doing injustice

4:3

Quick points that result from polygyny.

Polygyny might actually save a failing marriage!

Should a man marry two wives, the first wife will not necessarily receive less attention. Consider this hypothetical scenario. A man comes home every day at 8pm to his wife that he is bored of. The man is bored and therefore bores the wife and the wife is not happy and nor is the man. The man marries a second wife and now the man is more happy due to the new wife and essentially interacts with her until he becomes bored of her and then returns to the first wife with newfound enthusiasm, improving the cast of the first wife. This effect is actually not just hypothetical, there is a name for it, the Coolidge Effect.

In biology and psychology, the Coolidge effect is a phenomenon seen in animal species whereby males (and to a lesser extent females) exhibit renewed sexual interest if introduced to new receptive sexual partners, even after cessation of sex with prior but still available sexual partners.

-Wikipedia

Even the mere thought of polygyny acts psychologically!

Polygyny creates the abundance mentality in men which actually causes men to become more attractive to women, particularly their current partners (he's mine and I'm not going to share him). This is because when wives see their husbands engage in this mentality, the woman has 'relationship anxiety' and causes the woman to prove to their husbands that they do not need a second wife because they are already the best wife. In doing so, the woman attempts to please the man more and the man is pleased with her more and the relationship and the woman is appreciated more and the relationship paradoxically improves.