Advice on the matter of spinsterhood

The phenomenon of
widespread spinsterhood (women remaining without husbands) is caused by a
number of things, including the following: 

1 – Demanding too high a mahr, and the inability of young men
to bear the expenses of marriage. 

2 – Girls refusing to marry early on the grounds that they
want to complete their education. 

3 – Girls refusing to get married to a man who already has a
wife. 

4 – Difficult conditions imposed by the wife’s family or the
husband’s. 

The ways to solve this problem are as follows: 

1 – The girl’s family should look for a suitable man who can
make their daughter happy, and not seek to make excessive demands with
regard to the mahr. Rather they should look for a man who is religiously
committed and has a good character, who will be able to protect their
daughter’s religious commitment and chastity, and make her happy. 

2 – Girls should not refuse to get married on the excuse that
they want to continue their education, so that they grow old and reach an
age where they can find no one to marry them. It is possible to come to an
agreement with their husbands that they will continue their education after
they get married. That is easy to do, praise be to Allaah. 

3 –  A girl should not regard a man who
proposes marriage to her when he already has a wife as unsuitable for her or
unable to make her happy. Many girls refuse to accept a man who is already
married, then time passes and they get too old and cannot find anyone to
marry them. But Islam and the Sunnah of the Prophet permit a Muslim man to
marry up to four women, on the condition that the man treat all his wives
fairly.