Polygamy in Muslim Society   Term Paper ID:40486 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Discusses the practice of polygamy in Muslim society tacing it tothe pre-Mohammadean Arab past ...... More...

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Paper Abstract: Discusses the practice of polygamy in Muslim society, tacing it tothe pre-Mohammadean Arab past and affirming its support in the Qur'an. Paper Introduction: An Issue in Cultural Anthropology Polygamy Among MuslimsIntroduction Polygamy as defined by social scientists such as John C Macionis refers to a marital relationship that involves three or morepeople Polygamy takes two distinct forms The most common form is one inwhich one male and two or more females are united The less common form known as polyandry is marriage that unites one female and two or moremales This particular version of multiple mates is rare and is found inrural Tibet where agriculture Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. This brief essay will focus on the Muslimapproach to polygamy, outlining its significance in shaping familyrelations and exploring challenges to the practice that are emerging inmany Islamic countries today.Islam and Polygamy In contemporary Islamic societies, polygamy constitutes about 12percent of all marriages (Tucker, 2 4). "Fighting Free: The Paradox of Devout Muslim Feminists." The Economist, 6 Nov 2 4, 373: 1.Armstrong, Karen. Solomon - know as the "Wise" - is reported to have had 7 wivesand 3 concubines. Here, again, said Armstrong (2 ), the West often fails tounderstand Islam's division of authority within the family or to recognizethat the separate spheres occupied by men and women are not meant todiminish women but rather to protect them and to illustrate the same typeof care and concern that Mohammed showed for his own wives. With Islam, thispractice was affirmed via not only the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed,but also his example in that he had five wives (Badawi, 2 4). Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1985.Tucker, William. Among the Arab peoples in the centuries prior to therevelation of Mohammed, polygamy was socially accepted. In many countries in the world, polygamy is illegal and is regardedas unethical and immoral as well. The Qur'anic versesupporting polygamy is as follows: "If you fear that you shall not be ableto deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three.Or four; but if you fear you will not be able to deal justly with them,then marry only once (Qur'an 4:3, in Rubin 1995:116." This verse was citedafter the battle of Uhud in which many Muslim men were killed, leavingwidows and children whose due care was seen as incumbent on Muslimsurvivors. Women in Islam. It was only afterher death that he took a number of wives (Rubin, 1995; Schimmel, 1985). And Mohammad Is His Messenger. "The Suicide Bachelors of Polygamous Islam." American Spectator. A History of the Arab Peoples. Culturally, polygamy is well-established inMuslim countries and unlikely to disappear rapidly whether or not Muslimwomen and global interests demand that this occur. The Eye of the Beholder: The Life of Muhammad as Viewed by Early Muslims. Given that Mohammed is the role model for all Muslims, hisparticipation in polygamy serves as a more than adequate justification forcontinuing the practice; it also serves to explain why Islam is highlyresistant to efforts to make polygamy illegal as has been achieved inTurkey. The less common form,known as polyandry, is marriage that unites one female and two or moremales. More oftenthan not, however, when polygamy is discussed, the practitioners of thisform of marriage union are identified as Muslims - who are permitted tohave four wives assuming that they are able to provide appropriate andequal support for each woman and her children. The more common form of this practice - in which one man acquires twoor more wives - is associated with the Mormon faith in the West and Islamacross the world. Others were marriages tothe widows of his companions. This particular version of multiple mates is rare, and is found inrural Tibet where agriculture is difficult and food requirements have ledto a marital system in which a single woman literally needs the assistanceof two or more male mates to provide for a family (Macionis, 2 3). King David had one hundredwives! Macionis(2 3), refers to a marital relationship that involves three or morepeople. One must recognize that Mohammed was polygamous and that he was verymuch the product of Semitic culture and Arab practice - both of whichpermitted polygamy, which was common among nobles and leaders. While the Qur'an doesidentify women as naturally subordinate to men, it does not call for oreven suggest that women should be oppressed, denied human freedoms, orexcluded from decisionmaking within the family. London: Phoenix, 2 1.Badawi, Jamal. As Wiebke Walther(1995) puts it, "most Islamic countries are in a state of upheaval, whichgreatly affects the situation of women in family and in society." What onemust recognize is that Islamic women are seeking not an elimination of theteachings of the Prophet Mohammed or many aspects of traditional Islamicsociety, but rather a real return to those fundamental tenets of Islamicsocial and familial relations. The most common form is one inwhich one male and two or more females are united. Culturally,Muslims regard polygamy as a natural family arrangement; most Muslim womenhave tended to accept the practice, though Tucker (2 4) as well asArmstrong (2 ) question whether or not this apparent acceptance isgenuinely reflective of Muslim women's preferences regarding familyconstellations.Conclusions Women in Islamic Middle Eastern countries have typically beenportrayed in Western media as subordinate to men, limited in terms of theirability to exercise basic freedoms and rights, and as an oppressed groupvulnerable to abuse at the hands of society and the religious police incertain countries (Walther, 1995). In all, Mohammed had 11 marriages - seven more than those typicallypermitted in Arab and Islamic culture and the limit set in the Qur'an.Many of these marriages were political and were used to cement alliances asIslam grew in terms of its sphere of influence. It is important also to recognize that Mohammed was attracted to hiswives and enjoyed their company. Indeed,scholars such as Dr. Jamal Badwai (2 4) have commented that in the HebrewBible (the Christian Old Testament), polygamy was a common practicepermitted by God's law. While Westerners havenever embraced the practice, it is deeply entrenched in the culturalhistory of the Arab world. FromAbraham, David, and Solomon down to the Reformation period, polygamy wasalso practiced by many Jews. Brill, 1995..Schimmel, Annemarie. In Islam, a man is permitted to have up to four wives atany point in time - so long as he can provide equally for them and theirchildren (Armstrong, 2 4). Introduction to Sociology. However, over time, many Muslim women have begun to call for an end tolegal polygamy - something that has occurred in Turkey already. Cambridge: MA: Harvard University Press, 1995.Macionis, John. Inboth revelation and the Mohammedan prophetic tradition, marriage and familyare viewed as extremely important and sex is seen as a gift from God to beemployed within the bonds of marriage. This image, rooted in both truth andstereotypes, has been undergoing a dramatic change. One should note that bothJudaism and Christianity now prohibit polygamy (and polyandry as well), andeven the Mormon Sect in the United States has banned the practice (Tucker,2 4). "Polygamy in Islamic Law." 2 6. Available at www.islamfortoday.com/ploygamy5.htm.Hourani, Albert. An Issue in Cultural Anthropology: Polygamy Among MuslimsIntroduction Polygamy, as defined by social scientists such as John C. Abraham, recognized by Judaism, Christianity andIslam as God's prophet, had more than one wife. The only virgin that Mohammed married wasAisha, the woman with whom he had the closest relationship (Schimmel,1985). Islamicfeminism has had a number of very real successes. Whether or not polygamy is a desirable practice is a hotly debatedtopic in contemporary Islam and other religions. Mohammad: A Biography of the Prophet. The Turkishexperience is not, however, accepted among all Muslim countries, wherepolygamy is often actively encouraged and is practiced particularly by thewealthy and affluent classes who are able to support more than one wife andher children. June 2 4, 37: 5 -52.Walther, Wiebke. Princeton, NJ: Markus Weiner Publishers, 1995. Typically, as historian Albert Hourani (1995) has noted, the "place"and "role" of Islamic women has been centered upon the family and upon thefulfillment of maternal and wifely responsibilities. The historical antecedents of polygamy predate Islam. This is not the case in Islam, where the'Ulama supports this practice under certain conditions. The Economist (2 4)stated that in Turkey, polygamy has been abandoned and a number of lawshave been instituted that dramatically impact upon the status of women.There are now much more punitive penalties levied against those who commitcrimes against women, including rape and so-called honor killings of womenwho have been deemed to have besmirched the family name, and virginitytests imposed by teachers, relatives, or other authorities. Works CitedAnonymous. Leiden: E.J. This is the same source oflegitimacy for polygamy, which clearly indicates that in the Islamic faith,a man is entitled to have more than one wife if he can afford to do so,while women are denied a similar number of husbands. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2 3.Rubin, U. It is due to this fact, as well as God'steaching, that Islam venerates marriage and positions sexuality asappropriately addressed within the context of the marital relationship. One might therefore conclude that a partial explanation foracceptance - even promotion - of the practice was the realization that alarge number of women and children were lacking the presence and support ofa husband and father. The many Hadiths about Mohammed'sconcern and care for his wives reflects these values and certainly has beeninfluential in establishing the status and rights of Islamic women(Schimmel, 1985). While the Qur'an, Islam's "Holy Book"containing the revelations of Allah to his Messenger, Mohammed,specifically permits polygamy, in many Islamic societies the practice isbeing eliminated. Thus, inconsidering polygamy in the Islamic world, one must recognize that thepractice is historically associated with the pre-Islamic phase ofdevelopment and that it is further supported by the revelations of Allah toMohammed, thus validating a long-established practice. Mohammed accepted polygamy though during theprime of his life, he was married to one woman, Khadija. Elsewhere, among tribal peoplesin Africa (including both Muslims and non-Muslims), polygamy is more commonand may involve as many of 5 percent of the people in any particularregion where the practice is legally and socially permitted. Polygamy takes two distinct forms. Elsewhere, though widely practiced, polygamy is comingunder attack as a practice that is difficult to justify ethically,difficult to maintain in the spirit of equality and fairness for allinvolved parties, and ultimately both financially and emotionally costly(Hourani, 1995; Badawi, 2 6). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.