Musalmāns pay the greatest respect to an odd number. It is considered unlucky to begin any work, or to commence a journey on a day, the date of which is an even number.
The number of lines in a page of a book is nearly always an odd number. [[SALATU ʾL-WITR].]
WIVES. Arabic zauj (زوج), pl. azwāj, also zaujah, pl. zaujāt. Although Muḥammad himself claimed the special indulgence of eleven lawful wives, he limited his followers to four, allowing at the same time as many female concubines or domestic slaves as the master’s right hand possessed. See Qurʾān, [Sūrah iv. 3]: “Marry what seems good to you of women, by twos, or threes, or fours, or what your right hand possesses.” [[MARRIAGE].]
According to the Shīʿahs, he also sanctioned temporary marriages, an account of which will be found in the article on [MUTʿAH].
Regarding the treatment of wives, the following verse in the Qurʾān ([Sūrah iv. 38]) allows the husband absolute power to correct them: “Chide those whose refractoriness you have cause to fear. Remove them into sleeping chambers apart, and beat them. But if they are obedient to you, then seek not occasion against them.”
(For other injunctions in the Qurʾān on the subject, see the article [WOMEN].)
The following is Muḥammad’s teaching, as given in the Traditions (see Mishkāt, Arabic edition; Bābu ʾn-Nikāḥ):—
“That is the most perfect Muslim whose disposition is the best, and the best of you is he who behaves best to his wives.”
“When a man has two wives and does not treat them equally, he will come on the Day of Resurrection with half his body fallen off.”
“When a man calls his wife, she must come, although she be at an oven.”