Religion & American Law

British Muslim Men Bringing Back Polygamy

According to religious leaders in Britain, there has been a recent surprising revival of polygamy. This revival stems from an increase of the number of young British Muslims who are taking a second and third wife. A special report by the BBC Asian Network unveiled a report regarding the revival of polygamy based on findings from the Islamic Sharia Council, which provides legal advice and guidance to Muslims. The council admitted that they have had an unusual amount of questions about polygamous marriages, such that recent data has revealed polygamy is among the top ten reasons cited for divorce. Wives claim they cannot tolerate the competition with the other wives.

Within Britain, Polygamy is illegal. However, Muslim men are allowed to have a multitude of wives under Sharia law through a religious ceremony called the nikah. These second, third, and fourth wives are not recognized by British law but are seen as legitimate within certain Muslim communities. Khola Hasan, adviser to the Islamic Sharia council, said it was obvious that polygamy in the younger generations is on the rise and out of 700 applications for divorce in the past year, 43 were cited with polygamy as the reason. Hasan said her research revealed three main reasons for this revival. One deals with the increase in the number of young Muslim men who want to practice a more orthodox form of the religion. These men know that it is illegal to be married to more than one woman but continue to do it anyway. These marriages, however, were noted as having one of the lowest records of succeeding. Hasan proceeded to speak about how the wife usually does not want a divorce and wants her husband to continue supporting the children. Thus instead of living together and fighting, the husband will simply just take on another wife.

A similar case would be seen with Imran Patel, who is a second-generation Pakistani living in Birmingham. He was married by the age of 18 to a woman of his parent’s choice. Seven years later, he fell in love with another woman who was divorced with children. Instead of getting a divorce himself, he decided to marry the second woman. Patel said that while he did not initially tell his first wife, she easily accepted the situation when he told her months later. He claims to love them both and has created a unique schedule to accommodate his life style.

Perminder Khatkar, who was part of the investigation by BBC said there was also concern for wives in these polygamous marriages that are unaware that they have no legal rights. The Muslim Council recommended that those who marry under Sharia law should have a contract stating who is entitled to what. The contract requires the consent of all parties involved and could be challenged in British court.

In my opinion, polygamy should never be tolerated. From a woman’s perspective, it is disrespectful and degrading. How could one man love and treat five women equally and justly? It is not fair to have multiple women tolerating a competitive environment in their own marriage. Financially, the burden of supporting such a large number of people is outstanding. How could a father let one child be sent to college but say no to the next? There seems to be no logical balance for polygamous marriages and usually results in a lose-lose situation.

As we have seen in the case of Reynolds v. US, the law cannot in interfere with religious beliefs but can interfere with the practice of those beliefs. Polygamy can be seen as a political threat and not civilized. Monogamy is crucial to order and social liberty. As with the Reynolds case, the young British Muslim men are aware that polygamy is illegal however continue to marry under Sharia law. These men are committing a crime of bigamy and there is no benefit of this type of marriage to not only the parties involved, especially the woman, but also the government. I do agree, however, with the Muslim council enforcing those who will be wed under Sharia law to create a contract that settles who gets what if there were to be a divorce. Also, the issue of the women being completely unaware that they have no legal rights is unacceptable. Everyone needs to be aware of what they are truly getting themselves into. Overall, it comes down to a simple question; could you see yourself happy in a polygamous marriage?

About : Raja CRN

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