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Polygamy in Islamic Law: Difference between revisions
→Polygamy & Bride-Price (mahr): added to 'The Consequences of Polygamy' and swapped that section and 'Islamic defense of Polygamy' to give sections a more logical order
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==The Consequences of Polygamy== | ==The Consequences of Polygamy== | ||
===Polygamy & Chastity Assurance practices such as FGM=== | ===Polygamy & Chastity Assurance practices such as FGM=== | ||
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The high status polygamous man will require that girls who aspire to marry him conform to his expectations and standards. And a family wishing to marry a daughter to a high status man must persuade him that their daughter is 'pure', chaste and will be faithful to him. They demonstrate this by adopting (or having their daughter adopt) Chastity Assurance practices expected by that man, whether it be FGM or other practices in the above list. | The high status polygamous man will require that girls who aspire to marry him conform to his expectations and standards. And a family wishing to marry a daughter to a high status man must persuade him that their daughter is 'pure', chaste and will be faithful to him. They demonstrate this by adopting (or having their daughter adopt) Chastity Assurance practices expected by that man, whether it be FGM or other practices in the above list. | ||
The intensely | The intensely hypergynous nature of polygamous societies means that the marriage practices of high-status polygamous men cascade down through the lower ranks of society, and are rapidly adopted by all families. Only the daughters of the poorest families, who can not afford to engage in such practices, are spared. These girls and their families are stigmatised as 'impure' and 'contaminating' and guaranteed to be unchaste, and will be considered as 'untouchables' and suffer from intense discrimination and persecution. Thus the avoidance of stigma becomes an added incentive for families to conform to the community's Chastity Assurance practices. | ||
===Polygamy & Bride-Price (mahr)=== | ===Polygamy & Bride-Price (mahr)=== | ||
In polygamous kinship systems marriages require that some form of dowry or bride-price be paid ([[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]). This is because the scarcity of | In polygamous kinship systems marriages require that some form of dowry or bride-price be paid ([[Mahr (Marital Price)|mahr]]). This is because the scarcity of marriageable women which polygamy causes makes them into a valuable asset that can be realised when she is 'sold' in marriage. The scarcer marriageable women are the more the value of dowries rises. This makes marriage unaffordable to low-ranking young men, even if they do manage to find a bride. It is a notable feature of Arabic folk tales (such as ''<nowiki/>'One Thousand and One Nights'''), and similar tales from other polygamous societies, that their heroes are often poor young men (such as Aladdin) who love a girl, but who can not afford the bride-price required to marry her. The story is resolved when he becomes rich and powerful enough to marry her. | ||
Nobel prize-winning economist Gary Becker argues in his book 'A Treatise on the Family'<ref>[https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674906990 A Treatise on the Family] Gary S. Becker, Harvard University Press</ref> that families of young women become the biggest supporters of polygamy because they possess an inherently scarce resource. Love matches and courtship are frowned upon because they risk reducing the bride-price (the couple may be tempted to elope, or the bride request a merely symbolic bride-price). In order to preserve their market value, young women must be veiled or sequestered and kept out of contact with young men. | |||
''<nowiki/>'' | |||
===Polygamy & Child Marriage=== | ===Polygamy & Child Marriage=== | ||
Child Marriage is endemic to polygynous societies. One way of alleviating the 'bride famine' that polygyny creates amongst men in the lower strata of society is to bring prepubescent girls into the marriage market. Dowry further incentives parents to sell-off their daughters before adolescence, when there is a greater risk of her reputation being spoiled and her losing her economic value. And if the bride is still a child, the dowry goes to her father, not to the bride. The bride-price for a child is generally less than for an adolescent or adult woman. This makes children a more affordable option for poor and low status men. | Child Marriage is endemic to polygynous societies. One way of alleviating the 'bride famine' that polygyny creates amongst men in the lower strata of society is to bring prepubescent girls into the marriage market. Dowry further incentives parents to sell-off their daughters before adolescence, when there is a greater risk of her reputation being spoiled and her losing her economic value. And if the bride is still a child, the dowry goes to her father, not to the bride. The bride-price for a child is generally less than for an adolescent or adult woman. This makes children a more affordable option for poor and low status men. | ||
Because of the great age differences in such marriages, and the degree of power inequality between husband and bride, the personal bond between husbands and wives is not strong and there is very little companionate marriage. | |||
In monogamous societies, the incest taboo generally extends not only to daughters but also to all young women old enough to be a man's daughter. This separation of generations, which does not naturally occur in polygamous cultures, is what makes childhood, as we understand it, possible. | |||
===The Polygamous family=== | |||
According to Somayya Jabarti of Arab News, Saudi Arabia has the second-highest divorce-rate in the world. Abdullah Al-Fawzan, a professor and sociologist at King Saud University in Riyadh, states that polygamy is responsible for up to 55 percent of divorces. He added that the loss of trust, sincerity, compassion and cooperation were also factors in the failure of marriages.<ref>Somayya Jabarti - [{{Reference archive|1=http://www.arabnews.com/node/239330|2=2013-01-01}} Alarming Divorce Rate ‘Must Be Addressed Urgently’] - Arab News, October 24, 2003</ref> The Maldives, an Islamic country with a 100% Muslim population,<ref>The Maldives is the only country after Saudi Arabia that claims to have a 100 percent Muslim population. As per its constitution, only a Muslim can be a citizen of the country. Propagating any faith other than Islam, importing/publicly carrying literature that contradicts Islam or translation into the Dhivehi language of such books and writings, displaying in public any symbols or slogans belonging to any religion other than Islam, or creating interest in such articles are all against the law and are punishable with imprisonment, fines or banishment.</ref> also has the highest divorce rate in the world, with 10.97 divorces per 1,000 inhabitants per year.<ref>[{{Reference archive|1=http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-11000/highest-divorce-rate/|2=2013-01-05}} Highest divorce rate] - Guinness World Records, accessed January 5, 2013</ref> | |||
==External Links== | ==External Links== | ||