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Re: Polygamy in Sudan (Re: Muna Khugali)
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Dear All, as promised I am back with some discussion,
Polygamy as I see it, “a legitimate Islamic prohibition”!
At the arrival of Islam, the Arabs generally used to have ten or more wives and they often treated them badly. Islam limited the number of wives to four wives maximum. Islam tolerated polygamy on the ground of necessity and it was permitted under certain conditions. For example, to provide for the many whose husbands (or prospective husbands) had died fighting for Islam after the Isalmic battle of Uhud’ in which a large number of Muslims died and the number of women became extremely higher than men. It is not clear for me why the number of four wives was mentioned as a maximum, may be that was relatively based on the existing number of women compared to number of men at that time. Polygamy was permitted to allow unmarried women to have husbands in order to fulfil their social and economic needs. The Koran puts a hard condition for polygamy, which is treating women fairly and equally “If you cannot deal equitably and justly with all, you shall marry only one.” (Surat el Nisa’a: 3) and “Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if that were your ardent desire” (IV: 129).
I see the issue of polygamy like many of the controversial issues affecting women’s lives in Islamic society. The rejection or acceptance of polygamy in Sudanese society differs from one community to another and from one class to another. For instance and as we have explained earlier, the well-educated women with jobs and social status may stand against polygamy, women here are aware of their rights because they are educated and independent and they don’t fear divorce that might come as a result to polygamy. Because of their social status, which they are proud of, they stand against polygamy because it destroys that status. The interpretation of the Koran’ verse on marriage and polygamy – whether to allow it or not, differs from one country to another, based on certain interpretations to Islam, on their customary laws, norms and also on the ideology of the government. The Koran says “And if ye apprehend that ye may not deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry such as please you, of other women, by twos threes or fours”. Another Koran’s verse “Marry such women as seem good to you two, three, or four of them. But if you fear that you cannot maintain equality among them, marry one only”. In fact, Islam has instituted a very difficult condition for polygamy, which is that the women involved are treated with equal justice. The Koran’s verses end, however, by suggesting that such justice is impossible. Justice and equality mean that the women are given the same emotional care and treated with equality, in addition to equal financial and material benefits of the marriage. Many Muslim feminists in the African region and the Islamic world have called for the abolition of polygamy, and for the adoption of the international conventions on women’s rights, but their calls are not supported by their societies and also rejected by the governments and the male-dominated authorities. It is also the case that most of Sudanese women are not joining their voices to reject polygamy. And here I would like to talk about the causes that make women accept polygamy, one is the social factor, which is mentioned earlier by Mohamed el Bashir, for instance a woman may find herself caught in a poor situation, I mean no family to support her, she may go for polygamy because it provides her with security, a home and a family of her own even when there are others involved. In a patriarchal society like the Sudanese one, women also fear to get older without marrying, polygamy may provide the woman with the only marriage’ proposal in her life. It is an opportunity to have a husband and may be children, and you know the importance of these issues in the different Sudanese societies. A woman without a husband and children will be blamed in most of the time.
In a country with a high illiteracy like Sudan, women accept whatever happens to them because they have no other alternative, or because they are made to think that the situation they live in is the best, can a woman from a poor family or even a rural family go back to her family because her husband has taken another wife?
We are talking here at least about three parties involved, the husband (the king) and the two wives. What we mentioned above applies in both wives, both are in this marriage because of the cultural, social and economical pressure and also children. It is also true that the first wife who cannot have children, prefers in most of the time to stay married to her husband when he takes his second wife, of course she wants him to have children, because she knows he wants children, she wants him to be happy, but at the same time other women accept polygamy because they fear to ask for divorce, again the factors we mentioned earlier are causes for accepting polygamy. we continue
(عدل بواسطة Muna Khugali on 12-28-2004, 06:05 AM)
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العنوان |
الكاتب |
Date |
Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 01:29 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | قلقو | 12-23-04, 01:51 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 02:13 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Ishraga Mustafa | 12-23-04, 02:21 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 03:13 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Halema2 | 12-23-04, 03:11 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 03:35 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | قلقو | 12-23-04, 04:00 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 06:17 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | أحمد الشايقي | 12-23-04, 09:17 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 04:18 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-23-04, 07:47 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 10:40 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Mohamed Elbashir | 12-23-04, 09:27 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-23-04, 10:59 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-24-04, 00:51 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-24-04, 09:28 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-24-04, 08:35 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Hisham Amin | 12-24-04, 01:51 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-24-04, 03:52 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-24-04, 06:34 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-24-04, 11:04 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-24-04, 11:45 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-25-04, 00:51 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-25-04, 08:46 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-27-04, 06:19 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-27-04, 11:41 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-27-04, 02:45 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-28-04, 00:19 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-28-04, 02:52 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 12-28-04, 11:59 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | محمد حامد جمعه | 12-28-04, 12:08 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Omer Abdalla | 12-28-04, 12:31 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-29-04, 06:06 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-31-04, 08:51 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-31-04, 09:08 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | خضر عطا المنان | 12-31-04, 09:57 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 12-31-04, 10:10 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 01-08-05, 12:21 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | عبدالناصر معتصم | 01-08-05, 05:35 PM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Abdel Aati | 01-14-05, 08:39 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | manubia | 01-14-05, 10:33 AM |
Re: Polygamy in Sudan | Muna Khugali | 01-14-05, 01:36 PM |
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