22 December 2024, 20:54
Russian SAM names conditions for permissible polygamy for Muslims
As follows from a fatwa (a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia), – note of the “Caucasian Knot”) of the Ulema Council of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia, polygamy is permissible for Muslim men in Russia, and a Muslim can be in a religious marriage with four women with fair and equal treatment of all his wives.
Ramzan Kadyrov has repeatedly spoken out in support of polygamy. In October 2019, Mansur Soltaev, a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, now the Ombudsperson of Chechnya, proposed legalizing polygamy in Muslim regions of Russia. Islamic scholars interviewed by the “Caucasian Knot” then considered the above idea legally unfeasible.
The fatwa notes that the legal basis for a married man to marry another woman may be the inability or unwillingness of his spouse to bear children, “sexual incompatibility of spouses” or “the desire of a man to provide social and material support to a single woman and her children.” The man is obliged to inform his second wife about the presence of his first wife, while it is only “desirable” to inform the first wife about her husband’s new religious marriage. A woman who did not agree in advance to the status of another wife has the right to demand a divorce if a man did not inform her about the presence of his other wives.
The justification for the fatwa emphasizes that the number of Muslim religious marriages with a second, third, and fourth wife has increased in Russia, although the Russian law only recognizes one officially registered marriage.
The fatwa is intended to protect the rights of second and subsequent wives, states Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, the deputy chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia. Ildar Alyautdinov notes that when entering into another religious marriage, a man must adopt all of his new wife’s children and draw up a will.
The issue of polygamy in Russia was discussed after a story with the wedding of a police chief in Grozny which provoked a wide public outcry. On May 16, 2015, 57-year-old Nazhud Guchigov married a 17-year-old resident of Chechnya. According to the media reports, the girl became the second wife of Nazhud Guchigov. There were suggestions that the minor was forced into marriage.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on December 20, 2024 at 03:38 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Source: Caucasian Knot
