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Polygamy in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
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Polygamy causes Chastity Assurance practices such as [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law|Female Genital Mutilation]] (FGM), Veiling, harems and footbinding. | Polygamy causes Chastity Assurance practices such as [[Female Genital Mutilation in Islamic Law|Female Genital Mutilation]] (FGM), Veiling, harems and footbinding. | ||
In polygamous societies it is only the richest and most powerful men who are able to afford to keep multiple wives. However, these high-status polygamous men face a problem guaranteeing the fidelity of their many wives - and the more wives they have the greater the problem becomes. In a monogamous marriage a husband and wife can spend much of their time with one another, and become close to one another, and their sexual and emotional needs are more-or-less proportional. A polygamous man may have two, four, hundred or even a thousand wives, whom he must satisfy emotionally and sexually, and whose desire for motherhood he must also satisfy. If one of his wive's needs are not satisfied, she may be tempted be unfaithful, and this may result in the high-status man rearing a child that is not his own. Which, evolutionary speaking, is a disaster. | In polygamous societies it is only the richest and most powerful men who are able to afford to keep multiple wives. However, these high-status polygamous men face a problem guaranteeing the fidelity of their many wives - and the more wives they have the greater the problem becomes. In a monogamous marriage a husband and wife can spend much of their time with one another, and become close to one another, and their sexual and emotional needs are more-or-less proportional. A polygamous man may have two, four, hundred or even a thousand wives (although Islamic law limits the number of one's wives to four, a man is allowed to have an unlimited number of concubines), whom he must satisfy emotionally and sexually, and whose desire for motherhood he must also satisfy. If one of his wive's needs are not satisfied, she may be tempted be unfaithful, and this may result in the high-status man rearing a child that is not his own. Which, evolutionary speaking, is a disaster. | ||
In order to assure themselves of the chastity and fidelity of their many wives, polygamous men have developed a variety of Chastity Assurance practices: | In order to assure themselves of the chastity and fidelity of their many wives, polygamous men have developed a variety of Chastity Assurance practices: | ||