@QuickThinking Thank you!
All the questions on here have been good, especially the difficult ones!
You see there were aspects I myself were highly critical of even though I am a believer; it's the only way we can learn and Muslims are encouraged in the Qur'an to always further their knowledge.
For instance I actually always thought it was strange and unfair that a man could have 4 wives and kept on digging for the truth.
Well it turns out Muslim men cannot have 4 wives just because they fancy it or at all really because there is a very strict condition and if not met it would be a grave sin on the man - that is all 4 wives have to be treated equally in every aspect.
Objectively we all know that is impossible! The man will have a preference / favourite or will be unable to treat them the same emotionally and physically so its purpose is actually a deterrent to having more than one wife.
No matter how able a man thinks he is (financially or physically) he cannot even treat two women equally let alone 4.
A simple example I can think of: there is only one New year's eve - who will he watch the fireworks with? Surely one will get upset and he cannot take it in turns each year as he cannot guarantee whoever's turn it is next year to be alive.
That example is a little silly, but it's less complex than let's say fertility; let's assume a man can impregnate one wife but not the other; even if the woman has fertility health issues and the man doesn't, Islam recognises how difficult it would be for the woman and the pain it would cause her; it's not nice to put any woman in that position - so again it's a deterrent because he has to have children with both wives if they both want it, even the same amount if that's what they want.
I also decided to dig even deeper and find out why having 4 wives was mentioned at all.
I find it is due to the context during the 6th century when men had upto 4 wives.
The importance of this time is there were a lot of ongoing wars with children orphaned and women widowed. Now they were pretty vulnerable as you can imagine as this was a time whereby women didn't work or have anything to their name, add becoming a widow with children to the equation things weren't looking good for them.
It is during such times the remaining men of financial capability could marry a woman who had been widowed for her sake and the orphans.
The woman at the time were happy to have been offered marriage (it was not forced) because it gave them the same rights as the first wife (not widowes), more protection and security for their children.
The men in countries such as Saudia Arabia marrying upto 4 women just because they fancy it and want a 'newer model' are not behaving Islamically at all; it is very disrespectful towards women when God only allowed it during dire times for the well-being of women and orphans.
You make a good point; I have come across Muslims who wear the hijab, refrain from drinking and pray - which are all central to Islam but it is only practicing it on the surface. It is a lot deeper than that and I think, I cannot say for certain or generalise, but perhaps it's due to the language. The Qur'an is written in Arabic, but not all Muslims speak Arabic so will not understand everything
I cannot speak Arabic - I have had to learn a lot to understand it all.
I think some cultures are simply told "this is haram and this is halal - if you do this or that then it's hell for you" and they haven't been taught core, more complex principles such as forgiveness and kindness which are very important.