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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

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. 



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