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  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] more peace and religion
  • Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 13:39:34 -0700

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap10-22-130138.asp?reg=europe&vts=102220041313<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusintl/ap10-22-130138.asp?reg=europe&vts=102220041313>


Thousands of Muslims in Britain practicing polygamy, Islamic leaders say



ASSOCIATED PRESS



LONDON, Oct. 22 - Thousands of Muslim men in Britain may have exploited a
loophole in British law banning multiple marriages by holding religious
marriage ceremonies in mosques, Islamic leaders said.



Muslim men can contract a ''nikah,'' or religious ceremony, in a mosque
without going through a civil ceremony, allowing as many as 4,000 men in
<>Britain to have multiple marriages, the leaders said in issuing guidelines
warning against the practice.


''We are concerned for the women - the second wife or subsequent wives
usually find they have no rights if the relationship breaks down,'' Mufti
Barkatullah, a judge on Britain's Shariah Council, said Friday.


''Practically speaking, a second, parallel marriage is frowned on,''
Barkatullah said.


Despite this, the council - which provides guidance on legal and
theological issues - deals with 600 applications for polygamous marriage
every year, Barkatullah said.


He estimated that 3,000 men in Britain are in relationships that are
only technically polygamous. They have left their prior relationship and are
living with their new partner but want to avoid the stigma or expense of
divorce. Another 1,000 have multiple, parallel marriages, he said. In such
instances, the men are maintaining households with each of their wives.


Ghayasuddin Siddiqui, leader of the Muslim Parliament, an umbrella
body of Islamic groups, puts the number of men practicing polygamy at around
2,000.


''But at the best, we are only guessing,'' he said, noting that in
some cases, women are brought in secretly from abroad.


The nikah ceremony, which is conducted by an imam, is recognized by
Islamic authorities as a marriage in the sight of God. But it is not valid
under British law, leaving many wives without income, pension, property or
welfare rights if the relationship breaks off.


The government says it is a criminal offense to contract a second
marriage while the first is still in force.


The guidelines - which Barkatullah helped to draft - state that ''no
Muslim should seek to contract a marriage without the full protection of the
law of the land.''


''Persons most likely to be harmed by avoiding the civil registration
would be the wives, who would only then have the status in the United Kingdom
of unmarried partners,



a status forbidden in Islam. The children would be illegitimate.



No Muslim man



should



wish to put his spouse or offspring in such a dishonorable position,



'' the guidelines say".


The guidelines urge imams to do their best to find out if couples have
been married before and if so, whether they have terminated a previous
marriage.


''Obviously, people interpret the Quran differently, but most imams
already do not conduct polygamous marriages,'' said Barkatullah.



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



  • [Homestead] more peace and religion, Toni Hawryluk, 10/22/2004

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