The Constitutional Court chief on Sunday threw his weight behind a forthcoming bill to fine or jail men who failed to register their marriages in order to skirt polygamy restrictions.

Mahfud MD said that unregistered marriages, known locally as siri, should be stamped out to protect women and children.

A bill to amend a religious law on marriage is due to be debated in the House of Representatives sometime this year.

“I completely agree with the bill as many people have become victims” of unregistered marriages, Mahfud said. “The children are neglected while [women] are made objects of lust.”

Nasaruddin Umar, director general for Islamic guidance at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, said that the ministry also supported the legislation. He warned that once the bill was passed by the House, all citizens would be required to register their marriages or face legal sanctions.

“No more unregistered marriages,” he said. “All marriages should be legally registered with the state.”

Nasaruddin said the ministry had reviewed numerous cases of men entering into unregistered unions for their own benefit, including under the guise of “avoiding committing sin” through adultery. He also said that some men remarried without the consent of their first wives, which violated polygamy laws.

“In Islam, marriage is very sacred and holy. No man is allowed to fool around with it,” Nasaruddin said.

The Religious Affairs Ministry started drafting the bill three years ago with the aim of protecting women and children. “The draft is now with the State Secretariat and is ready to be handed to the president for review,” Nasaruddin said.

Article 143 of the bill states that “anyone who intentionally conducts a marriage without a marriage registrar faces a maximum fine of Rp 6 million [$642] or six months imprisonment.”

The existing Law No. 1/1974 on Marriage requires people to register their marriages with the appropriate civil registry office. However, there are no penalties for violators.

Nasaruddin said the bill would not ban polygamy, adding that men would still be allowed to marry up to four women so long as they met the legal requirements, which include getting the written consent of their wives.

“However, all four marriages must be registered,” he said.

Ma’ruf Amin, head of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said unregistered marriages were permissible in Islam, but could be sinful if they caused problems for the wives or children.

If all the conditions required by Islamic law were met, such as having witnesses and guardians present, he said, then the marriage would be considered valid.

“However, if the marriage creates hardship for other people, such as the husband abandoning his other wives or children, then it is forbidden,” Ma’ruf said.

He acknowledged that some siri marriages resulted in abandoned wives and children, and said that was likely the driving force behind the bill to have all marriages registered.

Ma’ruf said it was up to legislators to determine the country’s civil law and to set out punishments for those who broke it.

“When people conduct siri marriages, it may be legal in accordance with Islam, but they should also be aware of civil law and its sanctions,” he said.

Credit for the above info: Jakarta Globe, Feb. 15, 2010, by Anita Rachman & Muninggar Sri Saraswati

Four key areas of apparent discrimination are:

• Wali: Muslim brides require the consent of their walis to contract a marriage. If a woman’s wali refuses to give his consent, she can apply for the Registrar to be her wali hakim.
   
• Polygamy: An application for polygamous marriages must be made to the Registry of Muslim Marriages, which will conduct an inquiry on the suitability of the marriage before granting approval or rejecting the application. It is possible for women to restrict polygamous unions through the use of additional taqliq (conditions/promises) in the marriage contract, though this is still not well known. Polygamous marriages contracted outside of Singapore remain a major cause for concern.
   
• Rights to Divorce: Husbands have the right to divorce their wives by pronouncement of talaq, while wives have rights to divorce on grounds of cerai taqliq (breach of marriage condition), fasakh (dissolution of marriage for cause) or khul’ (divorce by redemption). In almost all cases where women apply for divorce and are unable to prove a case by fasakh or taqliq, a divorce was granted through a hakam procedure. In such cases, the wife does not lose her right to payment of mutah (compensation upon divorce) from her husband.
   
• Inheritance: Inheritance is generally determined according to Muslim rules of inheritance as modified, where applicable, by Malay customs. The following are situations of hardship that have occurred in the distribution of shares:
  • Adopted children who had taken care of their adopted parents receiving nothing;
  • A widow with young children being forced to sell the matrimonial home because the deceased’s brother or father insisted on claiming his share;
  • The son who is a prison inmate receiving more shares than a daughter who had looked after their parents;
  • A widow with young female children receiving fewer shares of the deceased husband’s estate because Baitulmal was granted some shares;
  • The non-Muslim wife and children receiving nothing of the deceased Muslim husband’s/father’s estate;
  • Muslims wanting to renounce Islam so that they are not governed by Muslim inheritance laws, which they perceive to be unjust and unfair.

• Some of the positive areas in the Administration of Muslim Laws Act (AMLA) include:
  • The minimum age of marriage is 18 years.
  • The consent of both parties are required.
  • All marriages must be registered, and can be solemnised only by authorised persons.
  • In the division of matrimonial assets upon divorce, the Syariah Court takes into account non-monetary contributions such as looking after the family, domestic work, etc. All wives are awarded at least 30 per cent, while wives who made some financial contribution receive a higher share. All assets acquired during the marriage are included, regardless of who legally owns them.
  • Muslim wives can apply for maintenance in civil courts. Courts take into account actual incomes, earning capacity, and the needs of both parties. The concept of nushuz does not exist in civil law. Maintenance orders can be enforced upon default, including by imprisoning the respondent or deducting his monthly salary.
  • There is a dual responsibility to maintain the children if both parents are working. Fathers of illegitimate children are obliged to maintain their children.
  • In custody and guardianship cases, the guiding principle is the best interest of the children. The Syariah Court increasingly makes joint custody orders; joint custody is the norm and sole custody is the exception in civil courts.
     
• Positive law reform has been achieved, in many cases through the work of NGOs, including:
  • Amendments to the Women’s Charter to offer better protection for victims of family violence.
  • Amendments to the AMLA on the distribution of matrimonial assets upon divorce.
  • Constitutional amendments allowing overseas born children of Singaporean mothers and foreign fathers to acquire Singapore citizenship.
  • Amendments to the Penal Code that removed marital immunity in non-consensual sexual intercourse (rape) in cases under certain conditions that are leading toward divorce.
  • Procedural amendments to eliminate problems with enforcement of Syariah Court Orders.
     
• The Government adopts a ‘non-interference’ approach on issues pertaining to Islamic affairs, so for reform to happen, the Muslim community must advise the Government on what should be done, bearing in mind Singapore’s secular, multi-racial, multi-religious society. If any change or reform is to happen, it must come from within the Muslim community, which provides an opportunity for positive reform.

Source: Report submitted by the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), following a consultation on 11 November 2008 with representatives from eleven organisations, including the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura, the Association of Muslim Professionals (AMP), Casa Raudha Women’s Home, Darul Arqam, Muslim Converts Association, Singapore Council of Women’s Organization (SCWO), Young Women Muslim Organization (PPIS) and Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE).

Attempts to practise aspects of sharia (Islamic) law in the Netherlands which involve compulsion, pressure and a misuse of power will be clamped down hard on by the government, justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin told MPs on Tuesday.

The cabinet’s job is to ensure that the Netherlands does not develop ‘a parallel society in which people take the law into their own hands or maintain their own legal system which operates outside the framework of our own legal system’, the minister said.

Some aspects of sharia law, such as the differences between men and women and divorce laws, do conflict with key Dutch values and Dutch law will never allow legal polygamy, he told MPs.

Nevertheless, some form of settling differences about questions of belief and behaviour did not have to conflict with public order, as long as they were entered into voluntarily, the minister said.

Before the summer break, the anti-immigration PVV party had asked Hirsch Ballin to investigate the setting up of sharia courts at some mosques. That investigation is due to be completed next year.

Credit for the above info: © DutchNews.nl, 02-09-2009

Zahidul Islam

It is very unfortunate that polygamy in Islam has been a subject of controversy. While a group of scholars has, without going into deep study of the divine rules, preached that Islam has permitted to have more than one and upto four wives without reservation, the other group of scholars has, without paying any thought to the reality of life and society, opined that Islam in effect prohibited polygamy. Consequence is that they have made polygamy in Islam a moot question, which it is really not. Most deplorable state is that without any insights into the polygamy in Islam, some people have begun terming the provisions on polygamy as anti-women and biased to men. Hence here is an attempt to clarify the issues.

It is obvious that unrestricted polygamy was an accepted mode of behaviour during the aiamey jaheliah (period of ignorance). But the scenario changed radically after the Revelation, that is, Sura Nisa of the holy Quran. Verse 3 of Sura Nisa is clear with its provisions that:

“If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two, three or four; but if ye fear that you shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one, or (a captive) that your right hand possesses. Thus that will be more likely to prevent you from doing injustice.”

This is the verse that contains perfect guidance for the believers that they may marry more than one wife only when they sincerely believe and possess the capacity to deal justly with the co-wives. But where they have an apprehension that it would not be possible for them to do justice as between wives, they are commanded to have only one wife. And this is the approved course of marital life which, as Allah says, will prevent men from doing injustice.

Then the next question is whether a Muslim man possesses the capacity to practice perfect justice as between women. The answer is also present in verse 129 of Sura Nisa. In this verse Allah, who knows the nature of man the best, cautions that ‘you are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if it is your ardent desire’. Hence humans do not possess the ability to practice just dealing of a perfect nature. It is inferable from this verse that monogamy should be practiced as general rule of matrimonial behaviour.

Then what about the polygamy? There are diverse views as to this. The first view is that a male is permitted to have upto four wives with the condition that he should be just between them. The capacity to be perfectly just does not exist in the humans and hence it is impossible for a person to satisfy the condition of doing justice as among wives, Hence polygamy is, in effect, prohibited.

The advocates of the other view point out that the permission to have more than one wife is explicitly provided for and there is no express provision prohibiting polygamy and hence to deny it on the ground that the condition of justice is impossibility is fallacious. They argue that any such interpretation based on the relevant two verses is impermissible because it will mean that the two parts of the Holy Quran suffer from discrepancy which is an impossibility as pointed out by the Quran itself. Thus they reject absolute prohibition of polygamy as a rule of conduct under the Islamic law. They are of the opinion that a person can validly have upto four wives where he has no fear that he shall not be able to deal justly with them. But the person, who does not possess the ability to fulfil this condition but still takes the advantage of this permission, commits a fraud or abuses the Devine Permission. And for this he will be tried by Allah.

However, the most accepted view taken by Islamic jurists and thinkers is that the permission to have more than one wife is conditional, and the condition is to deal with the wives justly. The nature of this condition is such as it is almost beyond the capacity of man to fulfil it. Therefore, the permission of polygamy is an exception and not a general rule.

The vital questions at this stage are two. First, in what conditions or under what exceptional circumstances and according to what rules of conduct polygamy may be permitted. Second, for what purposes and reasons polygamous marriage is impermissible.

Before answering these two questions it seems necessary to mention the approach of Islam towards marriage. Islam accepts marriage as an essential requirement for the wellbeing of the individual and the society. On the contrary, Islam clearly disapproves celibacy and treats it as an unnatural condition which produces evil. However, it does not regard marriage as inevitable. In the need of individual, family or society, there may be divorce and remarriage; and there are provisions for those. Likewise, Islam provides for polygamy for the better interest of the individual and as well as the society. Following are some specified circumstances when polygamy may also be permissible.

a. If we recall the occasion of the Revelation of the Quranic verse permitting polygamy, we see, it was after the war ‘Uhad’ when the Muslim community was faced with the problem of rehabilitation of many orphans, widows and captives of war. Their treatment was to be governed by principle of greatest humanity and equity. Thus it was commanded that you marry the orphans, widows if you are quite sure that in this way you will be able to protect their interest and property with perfect justice to them. If not, make other arrangement for them. However, it does not mean that this was guidance for that time only. In fact, it was a rule provided for posterity, since such a situation may be faced by some future nations. Examples are the present Palestine, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq etc.

b. Polygamy may be resorted to in those circumstances in which the purpose of marriage becomes frustrated. Capacity of procreation, care of children, of household affairs, marital sex satisfaction and compatibility of behaviour as between spouses are some of the elements of comprehensive purpose of a marriage. When such purpose is frustrated or not fulfilled because of wife’s barrenness, chronic illness, feeble-mindedness, madness, physical handicaps etc., polygamy may be permitted. The insights into this provision is that if another marriage was not allowed in such circumstances, and monogamy was the only way, then men would become prone to divorce the first wife resulting in throwing her in a more helpless and unsecured state of life.

Now comes a question that when a person practices polygamy in permissible limit, how will he deal with his wives, as it is clear that a man is not capable of doing perfect justice as between women?

Certainly, to escape Allah’s punishment, a person should try his best to do justice as between wives. Moreover, there is a guideline in the holy Quran (Sura Nisa, Verse 129) that: ‘But turn not away (from a woman) altogether so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air).’

It means that where a person practices polygamy within the permissible limits, he should refrain form treating the first wife in a manner which renders her position as that of a woman without husband. Kindness and equity must inform marital relations even in case of a person having more than one wife.

The next point to be discussed here is the purposes and reasons for which polygamous marriage is impermissible. In Islam, protection of chastity and purity of sex life constitutes the basis of marital status. And the holy Quran in different places indicates that lust, lewdness, property, beauty, lineage, or status cannot be the motive for seeking a woman in marriage. Thus where any of these constitutes the basis of desiring a polygamous marriage, that will be violation of divine commandments and hence impermissible.

The question that comes here logically is whether the observance of these rules of conduct by Muslims may be left to their freewill or it is the duty of the state. Islamic jurists are of the opinion that Islamic state possesses the jurisdictions and power to take steps so that the injunction of the Quran is followed.

Bangladesh, like many others countries with large Muslim population, does have law, as personal law, to regulate polygamous marriage of its Muslim communities. The relevant portions of that law, i.e., section 6 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961, reads as follows:

1. No man, during the subsistence of an existing marriage, shall, except with the previous permission in writing of the arbitration council, contract another marriage …

2. … (such) application form … shall be submitted to the chairman (of the arbitration council)… and shall state the reasons for the proposed marriage and whether the consent of the existing wife or wives has been obtained thereto.

3. On receipt of the application … the Chairman (of the arbitration council) shall ask the applicant and his existing wife or wives, each, to nominate a representative, and the arbitration council so constituted may, if satisfied that the proposed marriage is necessary and just, grant, subject to such conditions, if any, as may be deemed fit, the permission applied for.

This law has given the Arbitration Council a wide discretionary power to deal with the issue. Also, it has not defined what can possibly be ‘necessary and just grounds’ in this regard. These are why, according to legal experts, this law is prone to be abused. They think it necessary to define the expression ‘necessary and just ground’ with illustrations. Herewith I would like to add that that should be done in light of the rules of conduct provided in the holy Quran. No doubt, that will ensure maximum good to the Muslim individuals as well as the society.

The author is an advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court, currently working for Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the organisation he serves

 Credit for the above info: The Daily Star.net/law, April 28, 2007, Issue No:17

A study of polygamy in Russia suggests we have a lot to learn about how to beat the recession.

A study of polygamy in Russia might not seem an obvious place to look for insights into how the financial crisis might play out in suburban Kent or rural Yorkshire. But Caroline Humphrey, Sigrid Rausing professor of collaborative anthropology at Cambridge University, says central Asia and Russia have much to teach us.

“In the 1990s, Russia and central Asia experienced huge economic change: what a bank was, how your career was going, what you could expect from life, everything changed overnight,” she explains. “And of course it had a huge impact on people’s lives, from family life to politics, and polygamy is part of that whole scene. So far, we haven’t had such dramatic change in the west, but you never know.”

Humphrey specialises in the anthropology of communities on the edges of the former Soviet Union, and has spent much of her career studying the Buyrat people who live north of the Mongolian border in Siberia. Humphrey says that anthropologists slowly build a deep knowledge and understanding of a place and culture, but nevertheless, her discovery that there is a polygamy lobby was a surprise.

“Friends of mine in Siberia told me that their friends were lobbying parliament to legalise polygamy,” she says. “I always knew that there were men who like the idea of polygamy, but what I found fascinating was that women were also in support.”

So is the recession going to turn the good burghers of Tunbridge Wells into polygamists? It’s unlikely. But it remains the case that the reasons why men – and, even more interestingly, women – are advocating polygamy in Russia and Mongolia are as much about economics as they are about sex. The critical issue is demography. The Russian population is falling by 3% a year – and there are 9 million fewer men than women. Nationalists, such as the eccentric leader of the Liberal Democratic party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, claim that introducing polygamy will provide husbands for “10 million lonely women” and fill Mother Russia’s cradles.

Elsewhere, in the former Islamic regions of Russia, men argue that polygamous marriage is traditional and will encourage men to take greater responsibility – thereby alleviating poverty and improving “moral” education.

Improbably, for both groups, this is polygamy as a solution to contemporary social ills – and, according to Humphrey, is appearing outside Islamic regions. In rural areas the “man shortage”, exacerbated by war, alcoholism and mass economic migration, is even more serious. But when it comes to polygamy, rural women have a quite different agenda from their nationalist male counterparts.

“A lot of women live on what were collective farms, which are often deep in the forest and miles away from the nearest town,” Humphrey says. “You live very close to nature, and life can be very hard – your heating is entirely through log stoves, there’s no running water and inside sanitation is rare. If you are lucky enough to keep animals, you must care for and butcher them yourself. So if you are looking after children as well, life can be near impossible for a woman on her own.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly then, Humphrey’s investigations have uncovered women who believe that “half a good man is better than none at all”. “There are still some men around – they might be running things, with a job as an official, for example, or they might be doing an ordinary labouring job, but either way, there aren’t very many of them,” she says. “Women say that the legalisation of polygamy would be a godsend: it would give them rights to a man’s financial and physical support, legitimacy for their children, and rights to state benefits.”

Legalising polygamy has been repeatedly proposed and discussed in the Russian Duma, or parliament – and always turned down. For the urbanites of Moscow and St Petersburg it is a step too far.

In Mongolia, too, the legalisation of polygamous marriage is anathema. Yet in Ulan Bator, the thrusting capital city, well-educated women are combining traditional and modern to create something that looks suspiciously like a form of polygamy.

Surprisingly, it starts with the dowry. Eschewing the traditional gifts (horses, cushions, clothes), successful Mongolian families are increasingly giving their daughters a good education in place of a dowry. In contrast, their brothers often have to leave school early to either manage the herds or run the family business.

“In Mongolian culture, the bride’s family are the senior family; and a bride should be clever. And they had 70 years of communism, so the idea that women should be well-educated is not new,” Humphrey explains. “Since Mongolia, in common with Russia, also has a problem with alcoholism, there is an imbalance between urban educated women and the number of men these educated women deem to be suitable husband-material.”

The solution is simple: they just don’t get married. Instead, they take what is known as a “secret lover” – usually a well-educated man who just happens to be married to someone else. Any children resulting from the union are brought up by their mother and the maternal family.

“It is completely accepted. These women are among the elite of Mongolian society – they might be a member of parliament or a director of a company and they are tremendously admired,” Humphrey says. “They would be horrified by the idea of polygamous marriage because they don’t want to risk their independence.”

So what does this mean for marital relations in Russia and central Asia? Humphrey says it’s unlikely that polygamous marriage will ever be legalised in Russia – but perhaps that doesn’t matter.

“An insufficiency of men, educated women who want to realise themselves, rural women who want to protect themselves, all these things are going to give rise to arrangements like polygyny,” says Humphrey, “whether it’s called that or not.”

Credit for the above info: By Mira Katbamna- The Guardian,Tuesday, 27 October 2009, guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2009

Qatar is located in the Middle East peninsula, bordering the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

Polygamy rate is low in Qatar.

A study has dismissed as “untrue” the notion that polygamy is a prevalent practice among Qataris, pointing out that the polygamous marriage rate has remained at a low level in the last two decades.

The study, which was released by the Population Committee at the General Secretariat for Development Planning, said the number of Qataris who took only one wife ranged from 89% to 96% in the period between 1997 and 2007.

“During the period covered by the study, the trend was neither declining nor rising. This means that polygamous marriages do not signify a social phenomenon in the country,” the study said.

While the number of men marrying two wives accounted for 3.8% to 8.7% during the years covered by the study, it did not exceed 0.3% for those who have taken three or four wives.

Although Muslim men are permitted to marry up to four women simultaneously, Islam makes it obligatory for those who take more than one wife to deal with them justly. And if the husband is not sure about that, then he is ordained to marry one.

Credit for the above info: Gulf Times, by Anwar Elshamy, 8/31/09

MEMBERS of Sydney’s Islamic community believe polygamous marriages should be recognised to protect the rights of women.

Sheikh Khalil Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre in Lakemba today said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia and should be recognised.

“… Not an open door but in a way everyone will have control,” he told Triple J’s Hack program.

“It’s a bit hard, very difficult, but unless we face it, how (do) we overcome it?

“If you know there is law that will help you, there is community will help you. Why not? Why not change the law?”

Sheikh Chami said he was asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies.

While he declined to perform such ceremonies, he said, other sheikhs did not.

“There are a lot of sheikhs here without any qualifications, without any place,” he said.

“They’ll conduct that marriage no problem at all.”

 Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said recognising polygamous unions would help protect the rights of women in the relationship.

Mr Trad once proposed to another woman with the consent of his wife, Hanefa, but the second marriage did not proceed.

“I certainly would not have entertained the thought of having a relationship without a religious marriage and I thought the relationship with that person was developing to the stage where we had become too friendly with each other,” he told the program.

“Rather than entertain any thoughts of an affair I thought the only decent thing to do was to consider a proper commitment to that person.

“This idea of plural sexual relationships, it is not so much frowned upon by society as long as these people don’t say we want a polygamous relationship.”

Mr Trad’s mother was a third wife in a polygamous relationship overseas and he said the women had admiration and respect for each other and supported each other.

“In a sense, it’s a compliment to the original partner that if he didn’t find marriage to be so good why would he go into it again,” he said.

“In a sense, he’s saying that his first wife has made life like heaven for him so he’s willing to provide the same service, love and support to a second woman.”

He said women were choosing to enter into such marriages.

Mrs Trad said many people in polygamous marriages kept it a secret – not only because it was illegal, but because society did not accept it.

“Tell you the truth, the hardest part of it (is) the way the others perceive it not what’s happened between me and him,” she said.

Asked if it was just about wanting sex with more women, she said: “Yeah it can be, but having it in the right way instead of having it in like go to prostitute or just date”.

credit for above info: The Daily Telgraph, Jan. 25, 2008. Special thanks to a special visitor for sharing this news tidbid with all of us at Polygamy 411.

A strange woman was sitting in the living room, and Ms. D.’s husband, a security guard born in Ghana, introduced her as his other wife.

Devastated, Ms. D., a Guinean immigrant who insisted that her last name be withheld, said she protested: “I can’t live with the woman in my house — we have only two bedrooms.” Her husband cited Islamic precepts allowing a man to have up to four wives, and told her to get used to it. And she tried to obey.

It’s difficult, but one accepts it because it’s our religion,” said Doussou Traoré, 52, president of an association of Malian women in New York, who married an older man with two other wives who remain in Mali. “Our mothers accepted it. Our grandmothers accepted it. Why not us?”

Polygamy in America, outlawed in every state but rarely prosecuted, has long been associated with Mormon splinter groups out West, not immigrants in New York. But a fatal fire in a row house in the Bronx on March 7 revealed its presence here, in a world very different from the suburban Utah setting of “Big Love,” the HBO series about polygamists next door.

No one knows how prevalent polygamy is in New York. Those who practice it have cause to keep it secret: under immigration law, polygamy is grounds for exclusion from the United States.

The woman is in effect the slave of the man,” said a stylish Guinean businesswoman in her 40s who, like many women interviewed in Harlem and the Bronx, spoke on the condition of anonymity. “If you protest, your husband will hit you, and if you call the police, he’s going to divorce you, and the whole community will scorn you.”

“Even me,” she added. “My husband went to find another wife in Africa, and he has the right to do that. They tell you nothing, until one afternoon he says, ‘O.K., your co-wife arrives this evening.’ ”

Islam is often cited as the authority that allows polygamy. But in Africa, the practice is a cultural tradition that crosses religious lines, while some Muslim lands elsewhere sharply restrict it. The Koran says a man should not take more than one wife if he cannot treat them all equally — a very high bar, many Muslims say.

It’s not life, your man sharing a bed with another woman,” Ms. D. said. “You’re always thinking in your head, ‘does he love me?’ ”

Such stories of polygamy, New York style, are typically shared by women only in whispered conversations in laundries and at hair-braiding salons. With no legal immigration status and no right to asylum from polygamy, many are afraid to expose their husbands to arrest or deportation, which could dishonor and impoverish their families here and in Africa.

Credit for above information: New York Times by Nina Bernstein/2/23/07

DON’T DO IT, YOU WILL GET CAUGHT, AND IT WILL BE NASTY. Even if you are one big happy family.

While I am not debating the permissibility of polygamy in Islam… I will give a little food for thought about reigning jurisprudence in Switzerland. And speaking of just dying to fulfill the sunnah I do believe in following the sunnah of following the laws of the land in which you live. Anyway:

Under Swiss law, polygamy is bigamy. If you are a born Swiss citizen there is not much that happens to you should you partake in this sunnah other than eventual welfare or tax fraud charges…oh and losing custody of your children. However, if you are a foreign brother, even if you don’t care about the laws of the koofaar, the following might give you an opportunity to twist your beard a bit:

If you are naturalized man who is Swiss through marriage and you contract a second Islamic marriage while being married to the Swiss wife who “naturalized” you and the authorities find out about it, THEY WILL STRIP YOU OF YOUR SWISS CITIZENSHIP AND KICK YOU OUT OF THE COUNTRY. The legal reasoning behind stripping you of your citizenship is that you came about the citizenship illegally because you broke your oath to your spouse, and you broke the oath to the commune, the canton and the country to abide by its laws and polygamy is against the law. How’s that for a koofaar law?

So if you are a first wife and your husband tries to spin that he is marrying the sister to get the papers to make a better life for everyone, it doesn’t happen. Not here… If it isn’t a “sham” marriage but a true loving p marriage, good luck getting the neighbors not to be nosy, good luck not getting caught when you “divide your time”, good luck justifying why you send money to the same person who is not legally related to you every month…if there is the tiniest suspicion that the second relationship is more than just for the kids, or that it is ongoing- guess what? The authorities assume you aren’t serious about your first marriage, which means you don’t fill or continue the fill the requirements for ongoing residence in Switzerland, or if you are naturalized, it means you got your naturalization while you are screwing around. Which means both your residence permit and naturalization can be GONE…Even if the brother tries to do your job by the sunnah, you can still get busted for p. In fact, the only way not to get busted for p is for the brother to not do his job by the wife he is not legally married to. No money, no contact, no time. Cool huh? Not.

Regardless of what your personal views are, the Swiss expect you to follow Swiss law. This is the country where private citizens yell at you for jaywalking. Even if the brother in the p marriage lies says to the cops, “Oh that 2nd wife? She’s just my girlfriend, that second marriage thing is just cultural so that we could do it”- that argument does not hold up in court here. Period. (What brothers, you think no one ever thought of saying that before? That was actually in one of the judgements).

Let’s say things don’t go south, and hubby found a nice Swiss lady who loves you and loves partaking in the sunnah. Well good for everyone. But if an informant calls the police to say you are “bigamists”- it doesn’t matter if she is ok with it or not. The case will be investigated and prosecuted independent of the parties. This could be your parents, your neighbors, your boss. So living in the same apartment is going to raise eybrows, and if your hubby tries to divide his time fairly (which they never seem do but whatevs)- guess what? There’s always at least one neighbor who notices who is or isn’t coming and going. And what if the Swiss co-wife’s mom doesn’t like it and calls the cops? Same result.

Bigamists, when they do get prosecuted (and if they are foreign, before they get kicked out of the country), are usually prosecuted for cheating social welfare. Guess what, the wives are parties too! Which is why I said above- the second your hubby starts talking p, if you have any kind of social assistance, GET A LAWYER so that you don’t go to jail for FRAUD and get kicked out of the country and separated from your children.

Don’t let the brothers lose sight of this very important fact. At let’s not lose sight of the essential here: while we are “following Islam” remember that when you get married, mainstream Sunni thought is that you marry with the intention of getting married forever. Marriage for a fixed time period is not permitted in mainstream Sunni Islam, and if you marry someone with the full intention of it being temporary, you will be accountable to Allah swt.

Personally I think Swiss case law is racist because nothing really happens to Swiss bigamists (some light jail time if that…oh and if you count LOSING CUSTODY OF YOUR CHILDREN) and also because the wives and kids get sent back to Back Home if the man decides to “partake in the sunnah”, but I can guarantee you that the tide seems to be turning and a man in Switzerland thinks twice about trying to pull a fast one on anyone. One of the major cases that did go to the Federal Court involved an imam officiating what he knew to be a second marriage. The p dude, instead of getting a little more booty, got a one way ticket back home…Reputable imams in Switzerland do not do a nikah without a Swiss family book. No Imam who wants to keep his mosque or masjid open will do it here. While the argument could be made that the Swiss are a little hardcore for this, I think the US and a lot of other countries would be served by doing the same, at least in the short term, because I am tired of seeing sisters getting hurt by ignorant brothers and ignorant “so-called” imams.

It has happened that a third party can call out a p marriage in this country. So even if you go into it fully conscious and your hubby is on board and your co wife is on board and the imam is on board and you are one big happy P family, things can go south here legally in ways you could never imagine and you, whether you are a first wife or a second wife, can get caught up in whatever bad choices your husband makes and the result can make a world of difference in yours and your children’s welfare… p is just NOT WORTH IT here. Even with the best of intentions, even with all parties being on board and it being all Big Love up in there, the authorities simply do not tolerate it, and it only takes one fight, one nosy neighbor, one MIL not happy with the situation to mess everything up.

The above was from http://dictatorprincess.wordpress.com/some-thoughts-on-the-legal-aspects-of-polygamy-in-switzerland-for-foreigners

No Rights for Sharia Wives

Dagestani women who enter into polygamous marriages risk losing everything – even their children – when their husband tires of them.

By Polina Sanayeva in Makhachkala

Madina thought that she had married well. The educated and worldly Dagestani woman was thrilled with her husband – a wealthy man with a large house – and thought nothing of it when he asked her to marry him in a mosque, instead of at the local registry office. The latter was “all just rubbish, paper”, he said. So Madina gave up her job, was a housewife for three years and tried her utmost to be her husband’s idea of a Muslim wife.

But her husband, seemingly, had other ideas. His preference for a mosque wedding apparently stemmed from an intention to take a second wife – which is permissible under Sharia law.

“I slaved for the family, to put it bluntly. But my husband decided to marry again. I was not ready for this turn of events and I told him so. Then he showed me the door. And no one supported me. I went to live at my grandmother’s house. Some time later, my former husband took my daughter away from me,” she said.

The court battle for custody of their daughter is still going on, although Madina says that she has no more money or strength to contest it. Her husband bribed the judge and presented false documents claiming that she had treated the little girl badly, she claims. The child now lives with her former husband’s new wife and Madina, aged only 32, says that she has no energy to start a new life.

Madina is one of hundreds of women to suffer as a result of a growing trend in Dagestan – men taking advantage of their Muslim status to take a second or even third wife, even though polygamy is forbidden under Russian law. As a result, these “Sharia wives” have few rights in the secular republic.

Until recently, only Dagestan’s wealthiest men with high social status took second wives, as it was thought that they “could permit themselves” to do so from an economic and ethical point of view. However, many other men have also chosen to ignore the official registry office and marry according to Sharia law, and this practice has spread widely. While more optimistic religious figures link this phenomenon to the growth of Muslim self-awareness among Dagestanis, sociologists, psychologists and also representatives of Islam are choosing to see it as the result of a decline in morals.

While imams at mosques in the Dagestani capital Makhachkala say that almost all couples who marry there do so before or after their official registration, there are others who go to the registry office only under pressure from their families, as it is more important for them that their marriage is blessed by Allah. As a result, some believe that a Sharia marriage is the only necessary form of legalised matrimonial relations.

But in many cases, the process of taking new wives is only indirectly related to religion.

“Modern Dagestan citizens who come to Islam by tradition are what are called ‘ethnic Muslims’,” said one young man who describes himself as a fundamentalist. “They allow themselves to be Muslims only when it is convenient for them. For example, they drink and smoke quite readily, despite the prohibitions that are clearly set out in the Koran. It is also convenient for them to take a second wife and they do so, saying that their religion allows it.”

Many religious young women readily agree to be second Sharia wives in spite of their poor status compared to an officially registered first wife. Husbands tend to treat their second wife with less respect than their first, and such unions are often kept secret from the husband’s relatives and his first family.

Irina Rudakova, head psychologist at the Genesis crisis centre for women, which has been working in Makhachkala for five years, said, “At the moment, the chance of taking a second wife for a man is a convenient, socially acceptable form of legalised relations, which are more properly categorised as extramarital.

“The problem is that for women who marry in this way, nothing changes in their relations with the man after they are formally married. They remain in an illegal or semi-legal position, which does not give them any more stability or social protection. And if the marriage breaks up – usually on the initiative of the husband and his family – the woman has no chance to defend her rights. At any rate, it is useless to appeal to the state.”

However, many specialists agree that the psychological discomfort and social infringement of marriage rights is nothing in comparison with what women have to endure when their Muslim husbands literally throw them out on the street.

“I am in favour of polyandry – where a woman marries more than one man – and I am happy with the Russian constitution, with its declaration of the equal rights of men and women. But these local ‘Sharia marriages’ are a big deception by men,” said publicist Svetlana Anokhina.

“Men ignore their obligations. If a Sharia husband gets sick of his wife, he throws her out, and this is still considered a disgrace for the woman – as if it’s her fault! It’s like something out of the Middle Ages.”

Amina was still a student when she married a man older than herself. She says that she decided to become a second wife primarily because of the so-called economic factor – her husband was wealthy – and did so against her parents’ wishes. Amina lived separately from her husband, in an apartment registered in her name, and did not work, partly because she had given birth to a daughter, and partly because her husband’s wealth made it unnecessary. But before long her husband had gently but insistently forced her out of the apartment, and then broke off relations with her. “He got tired of pressure from his family who never accepted me as his lawful wife,” she said.

Unable to return to her parents’ home, Amina and her daughter lived with a friend for six months while she looked for work. She now works as a house painter and rents a small apartment. Only 25-years-old, Amina has the air of one who is already used to surviving adversity.

The lack of any legal mechanism to regulate relations within a Sharia family can also cause problems for first wives as well as for the second. Women in Sharia marriages usually spend many years not working, and live a closed-off life. Therefore if the husband withdraws his care of her, she feels completely helpless. With no rights, she cannot approach the state for help in making the husband respect his obligations, and a lawyer can only advise that the Sharia wife is in fact a mistress in the eyes of the law.

The Dagestan legal code does contain provisions for a Sharia wife to claim property that was acquired jointly with her husband. But, in practice, such women have not been able to successfully do so in court, and lawyers do not take on such obviously difficult cases – too many conditions need to be observed, and there are too many factors working against them.

This runs contrary to the principles of Islamic law, which gives a wife more rights than her husband in a marriage, and the legislation of the secular state which stresses equality of the sexes.

“Men who take their obligations seriously do not marry second wives very often, and they treat their first marriage very seriously,” said Islamic law specialist Idris Magomedov. “In a real Sharia marriage, all the responsibility for the woman, for the family and the children, lies fully with the man. His obligation is not just to fully provide for his wife financially, but to make sure that his wife is healthy and happy.”

And indeed some Dagestan women have never been happier than within a Sharia marriage. Aishat used to be called Alyona before being persuaded by her husband to convert to Islam. The Russian woman is now a Muslim, has been married for eight years, and has three children. She wears a headscarf and long dresses, as is proper, with only her face and wrists visible. “I gained peace and faith. I now have many new friends. I believe that they are all my new Muslim family,” she said.

Magomedov, who has made a scientific study of the issue of polygamy in Dagestan, said that many religious Dagestani men remarry because they are unhappy with a first wife who does not wish to adhere to religious principles – for example, wearing Islamic clothing, praying five times a day and observing fasts. They marry women who fully share their beliefs.

According to political scientist Ruslan Kurbanov, “I see a solution in creating a Sharia court. In a secular society this is also possible, and a precedent already exists. For example, in [the Canadian province] of Ontario [such a court] has existed for a long time and with the permission of the authorities.

“Most of the people who so readily marry second wives do this out of an ignorance of Islam. The basis of the requirement laid out in the Koran is fair and equal treatment of wives by the husband.”

A bill that would allow Iranian men to take additional wives without the consent of their first wife has angered women and the country’s top justice official, who say it would undermine women’s rights and could be a government attempt to more deeply enshrine its strict Islamic interpretation into law.

Outcry over the bill forced parliament to postpone a vote scheduled for Tuesday so lawmakers could debate it further in a committee.

Under Islam, a man can have up to four wives, and countries around the Mideast allow polygamy. However, Iran is one of the few — along with Syria and Tunisia — that require the consent of the first wife before a husband can take another. Still polygamy is rare in Iran, where most people frown upon the practice.

The government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proposed amendments last year to legislation drawn up by the judiciary that was supposed to be a landmark bill to allow women judges for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Opponents said the government is trying to impose an even stricter version of Islamic law in Iran, especially toward women. The complaints were enough to force the parliament speaker to send the bill back to committee before it was to be put to a vote for the first time Tuesday.

Under Iran’s Islamic Republic, women are required to wear headscarves and conservative clothing. A woman needs her husband’s permission to work or travel abroad and a man’s court testimony is considered twice as important as a woman’s.

Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 in part on a platform of restoring “Islamic values” that hard-liners say were eroded under the reform program of his predecessors. In 2006, Iranian activists launched a campaign to try to change laws that deny women equal rights in matters such as divorce and court testimonies — sparking a crackdown in which a number of women activists were arrested.

Despite the current restrictions, Iran’s 35 million women have greater freedoms and political rights than women in most neighboring Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia. There are numerous women in parliament and other political offices, though they are barred from the presidency and the more powerful, clerical post of supreme leader.

Earlier this week, dozens of women’s rights activists, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, went to parliament to protest the polygamy bill.

“That the parliament postponed the vote is a significant victory for women in Iran,” said women’s rights activist Farzaneh Ebrahimzadeh. “But we have to fight on. The bill may return to the parliament for a vote but we have to make sure that articles reducing the rights of women are deleted.”

Hard-line lawmaker Fatemeh Alia said in remarks published Thursday that she and other conservative lawmakers won’t give in and will fight for a vote in the parliament soon.

“Lawmakers will never give up drawing up Islamic laws … and won’t give in to mudslinging by a group of secularists gathered around those obtaining gifts from aliens,” Alia was quoted as saying by the daily Etemad-e-Melli. She was referring to Ebadi, who hard-liners accuse of working for the interests of Iran’s enemies.

The government amendments were added to the Family Protection Bill soon after it was drawn up last year by the judiciary. Aside from allowing some female judges, the bill imposes prison sentences for men who marry girls before they have reached legal age. The bill had sat in parliament’s judiciary committee since its submission to parliament.

Another government amendment that has drawn objections from the judiciary would introduce a tax on the dowry grooms pay to wives upon marriage under Islamic law. Opponents say the government should not be allowed to get its hands on that money.

Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi criticized the government’s amendments as harmful to women. He said the proposed changes have overshadowed the pro-family articles in the original bill drawn up by the judiciary.

“The dowry tax was unnecessary. It is harmful to women,” he told judges Monday. He also signaled his opposition to the polygamy amendment, saying it should be “amended and debated, away from public controversy.”

Iran has refused to ratify the U.N. convention on women’s rights, and the country’s senior clerics in Qom, Iran’s main center of Islamic learning, have rejected the convention as un-Islamic.

But women’s rights got a boost with the 1997 election of former President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who appointed a female vice president. Since then, other women have held positions within the government but have not been Cabinet ministers. And while women in Iran can run for parliament, they are prohibited from running for president.

Credit for the above information: FoxNews.com-9/4/08

It wasn’t easy for me to gather Tanzania’s laws, regarding polygamy. I visited the Jami Forum and learned the following:

Exaud, Kwa kuongezea, pia ni kwamba Polygamy In Tanzania is permitted with consent of first wife; upon registration, parties are to declare whether marriage is polygamous, potentially polygamous, or monogamous, and marriage may be ‘converted’ to polygamous or monogamous by joint declaration Obedience/Maintenance: maintenance of wife or wives is husband’s duty; becomes wife’s duty in cases where husband is incapacitated and unable to earn a living; Courts may order maintenance under limited circumstances where husband refuses or neglects to maintain wife

Source: Tanzania

The practice of polygamy was and still is the convention in such an Islamic and Arab country as Yemen. It used to be more common and practiced in rural areas where women were accustomed to being second, third, or forth wives. Even in the modern era, more women in Yemen are beginning to consider and accept the idea of becoming second wives of married men. Women in urban areas like Sana’a, Taiz, and Aden are starting to consent to enter and actually be in polygamous unions.

As a Muslim country, Yemen considers polygamy legal. Islam permits a man to have up to four wives at a time, provided the husband treats all of them equally. Yet Yemeni law doesn’t legislate the structure or functioning of a polygamous marriage and leaves it up to the individual families.

Moreover, the Personal Status law arbitrates against a wife, as it gives a man the absolute right to polygamy without provisions mandating that he inform his wife of his plans. “The law doesn’t restrict polygamy according to Sharia rule, which stipulates non-harassment, equality and justice among wives,” said Hooria Mashour, Deputy Chairperson of the Women’s National Committee. “The same law discriminates against divorced women to the same degree when it comes to alimony and child custody.”

In 1997, a survey about marriage was conducted by specialists from the US company Macro International Inc. and the Central Statistical Organization of Yemen. The survey included 10,414 women and showed that the proportion of women who have married already married men increases from around 5 percent among women aged 20-24 years to 11 percent among 30-34 year women, and then rises to 16 percent among women in their forties.

Ten years later, more than half of the polled women by the Yemeni Polling Center in December 2007 indicated that they would agree to a polygamous marriage to escape spinsterhood. The catch is that these women agreed to be the second wife, not the first one.

The poll was mainly on the legal rights of women and was funded by the Middle East Partnership Initiative. It included 434 men and women divided into 22 electoral districts throughout the four governorates of Sana’a, Aden, Ibb, and Hadramout.

The survey was the first in the draft ‘community involvement in the legislative decisions’ that will include eight public opinion polls on the eight draft laws to be discussed by the parliament in the coming period. Part of the polling regarded the minimum age of marriage and whether women considered marrying a married man.

The survey asked whether the sample thought it was a woman’s right to be informed of their husband’s desire to marry another woman. 97 percent of sampled women said men should inform their wives, while around 83 percent of the men agreed. Yet regarding women’s right to ask for divorce if they discover that their husbands have taken a second wife, 71 percent of the women said yes while the majority of men disagreed, as more than 65 percent of the men said women do not have the right.

The 2007 poll’s results also indicated that women considered expensive dowries and high demands from the girls’ families to be some of the reasons behind women being passed up by the marriage train.

However, considering the point of view of the second wife, there has never been a survey of this sort. And while the women and men interviewed for this story is not an accurate representation of the Yemeni population, the change in the social trend is quite visible as more Yemeni women are marrying an already married man.

The reason for this widespread consent to be in polygamous marriages has nothing to do with either being literate or illiterate, or belonging to one social class or another. In fact, it has to do more with the greatest fear for many women: never getting married. “I would rather be married to a married man than to be called a spinster for the rest of my life,” said Amal, a 25-year-old university student.

Though the increasing rate of women who agree to be married to other women’s husbands for fear of becoming spinsters is generalized across Yemen, answers vary from one area to another. For example, women from Sana’a were found to be more willing to be second wives then those from Taiz and Aden.

“Yes, I accept to be a second wife as long as the man I’m going to marry is able to support me financially and can provide me with a separate house to live in far away from his first wife,” said Fatima, a 28-year-old Sana’ni teacher. When Fatima was asked why she would accept such a marriage, she explained that spinsterhood is the worst thing that could happen to any woman. “We are living in a cruel society that thinks badly of unmarried women,” she explained. Nawal, a friend of Fatima’s, agrees with her. “I really hate it when people feel sorry for me for not being married yet,” commented Nawal. “They make me feel as if it is something to be ashamed of!”

Moreover, divorced women and widows according to the YPC study are more likely to marry a married man than women who had not been married yet.

Nadia is a 27-year-old housewife who is the third wife of a very wealthy man. Nadia is a highly educated individual; she has her MA degree in Business Administration and several certificates in languages and computers. Nevertheless, she strongly believes in polygamy and thinks that due to the increase of the female population in comparison to the male population, polygamy is the best solution to contain the increasing number of unmarried females.

While the number of women in favor of polygamous marriage has increased, there are some women who don’t believe in polygamy whatsoever. They believe that a man should not be shared with any other women and should belong to one woman only. Most of these women are from Taiz and Aden.

“I don’t think I would agree to be a second wife because I just can’t bear the thought of having to share my man with another woman,” said Mona, a 25-year-old woman from Aden. She said she prefers being a spinster to being a second wife. Nora, a 30-year-old working woman from Taiz, thinks the same. She believes that a typical marriage in itself has a lot of challenges and enough troubles to deal with, let alone all the troubles of a polygamous marriage.

And while the concept of polygamy remains controversial as to what taking more than one wife requires, most Yemeni men and some Yemeni women think of it as a religious right with no moral or even economic obligations to any of the wives, especially the first one.

Researcher Hanan Yahya Alwadee who has an MA in Human Rights from the University of London explains that the masculine society originates from the family, the street, one’s friends and the media, all of which promote intentionally or unintentionally an incorrect perception of polygamy. Men tend to believe in it so that they are able to justify their second, third, fourth and even tenth marriage, and are permitted to keep divorcing and marrying women until they have turned God’s permission for practicing polygamy into what resembles prostitution.

In his book “Fi Thilal Al-Quran” or “In the Shadows of Quran,” Sayed Qutub says, “If a generation misused that permission and made it an opportunity to make marital life a stage for animal delights, and when a man keeps moving between wives as a man between his mistresses in such an awful way, then that generation is not related to Islam and does not represent it. Those who plummeted to that level are far from Islam and do not comprehend its pure and noble spirit. The reason is that they live in a society that is not ruled by Islam and its legislation. The society is not ruled by an Islamic authority and does not guide people by Islam’s true directions, rules, morals and customs.”

Still, even including these women from Taiz and Aden who say no to polygamy, the majority are not against polygamy, especially for women in their mid thirties and older.

“I truly think that the older and more unlikely to be married a woman gets, the more rational she must think and let go of the idea of the perfect man. As for myself, I would marry a married man lest I never get married and have no man to look after me in the future,” said Sumia, a 27-year-old woman from Taiz.

Women like Sumia feel that the most important thing in a woman’s life is to get married and start her own family, without which, according to them, a life won’t have any meaning. Sumia feels that it doesn’t matter how successful a woman can be in her career.

“A woman needs a man… this is life,” she stated simply. But the idea is not just about randomly marrying any man. A man has to be given his first wife’s consent before proposing. In addition, he should possess the following attributes: good manners, good reputation, and financial stability.

When men were asked the same question about whether or not they would consider marrying more than one woman, the answers varied. “Why not? This is one of my rights as a Muslim and there is nothing wrong about it as long as I have the means to do so,” said Ahmed, a 30-year-old working man. Another 29-year-old employee explained that “there is a big difference between the question ‘do I want to have a second wife’ and whether I am really considering marrying a second wife. For most, the answer to the first question would be yes because 99 percent of men want to have as many wives as they can get. However, would they actually consider it? I think only 50 percent would really consider marrying a second wife for a lot of different reasons,” he said.

Similar to women, the majority of men whose answers were affirmative are from Sana’a. As for men from Taiz, Aden and Hodeida, the majority answered ‘No.’ Yet if this rate is compared with the past, the number of people accepting polygamous marriages is on the rise.

All in all, the constant fear of becoming spinsters turns out to be the main reason why women may consider being second wives, regardless of how, when or where. We as a society should take into account the major role society is playing in directing women towards polygamy as opposed to spinsterhood.

Credit for above info: Yemen Times- Sunday May 17, 2009 – Issue: (1258), Volume 16 , From 11 May 2009 to 13 May 2009

Ministry bans polygamous marriages for foreigners

The Interior Ministry is taking a stand against foreigners residing in Turkey who marry more than one spouse in accordance with what may be their own national laws.

The ministry noted that polygamy is at odds with Turkish family law, saying, “This is in anathema with our public order.”

An attempt by an unnamed Nigerian citizen in Turkey to get married here prompted a series of written documents between the Turkish Interior and Foreign Ministries.

The man, who wanted to marry another foreigner here in Turkey, got a permit to marry from his country stating that from Nigeria’s perspective, there were no legal barriers to his getting married. The Nigerian got married in Turkey, but a few days later, it turned out that the man already had more than one wife. It soon became clear that the document was issued because Nigerian authorities allow Nigerian men to have up to four wives. The Turkish Foreign Ministry notified the Interior Ministry, stating that permits to marry issued by nations that allow polygamy did not state clearly whether the applicants were already married in their home nations. In its communications with the Interior Ministry, the Foreign Ministry pointed to the case of the Nigerian man, who had apparently already had more than one wife in Nigeria when he married another woman in Turkey.

The Interior Ministry sent directives to regional Turkish governorships, underscoring the importance Turkish family law places on single-spouse marriages and noting that even though other nations may grant their citizens the right to polygamy, allowing such individuals to use their national laws to marry consecutive spouses in Turkey would be “anathema” to the public order of the state.

Order to examine ‘marriage status’

The Interior Ministry has called on offices in Turkey overseeing marriage processes to examine whether descriptions on the permit to marry include descriptions such as “single, divorced, widowed, etc.” The directive notes that in some cases, depending on the country, the simple proffering up of a permit to marry may be insufficient evidence that the person can in fact legally marry in Turkey. If the offices overseeing marriage in Turkey determine that an applicant’s documents are missing the required information, the marriage will not be allowed to proceed until the correct documents containing the required information are issued by the home country.

Credit for the above information: Timeturk-Saturday, 28 February 2009 11:56
TODAYSZAMAN

Chechnya: President calls for polygamy

See the entire interview here (in Russian).Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Chechnya: President calls for polygamy

See the entire interview here (in Russian).

The President of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov thinks there is nothing bad about polygamy.

“We have more women than men here, in Chechnya, and all women need to be settled in life. Our traditions and religion allow polygamy,” Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview published by

Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.

On the other hand, he says, “if a young girl or a divorced woman is promiscuous, her brother kills her and her man.”

“Our traditions are very harsh. It is better for a woman to be the second or the third wife, than to be dead. I am sure, we need polygamy today. There is no such law, but I address everyone: those who have a possibility and a wish should take another wife,” Kadyrov said.

 Source: (English) Interfax