Yes Jessica

Submitted by Jordana Ghannam-Ahmed (United States), Feb 24, 2020 at 18:33

Yes that would be correct for most islamic countries that have secular government and legal system (I.e. Egypt, Syria). It's technically legal and not entirely unheard of, but it is rather uncommon and the vast majority of well educated progressive men (and women) understand and take very seriously the Islamic requirements for polygamy and have no interest in such things. My brother, am islamic Scholar actually tells me that god did not intend for or encourage polygamy whatsoever but given the historical period in which the Bible and Quran come from and the acceptance of polygamy In those times for several practical and some entirely patriarchal reasons, God put in place such rigid guidelines so as to make it essentially impossible to meet them (without overtly forbidding it; as God it supposed to be understanding and not expect total change and adherence from less perfect people) and thus, maintaining monogamy and showing that only a perfect person and society could be capable of polygamy and as we are NOT it, we should not attempt to do so. Idk I know I did not explain that the most articulately lol so I hope someone can make heads or tails of it hahaha. Basically the consensus in most countries in which I've lived, like Syria like Egypt is that polygamy is NOT preferable to monogamy, not an objective worth striving for, and nowhere in the Quran does it place any emphasis on this at all. Unfortunately the salafi and wahabi countries like Saudi Arabia like UAE they have taken most everything and perverted it or entirely created false teachings and This is a huge issue I have with these type of countries. As a Muslim woman I can tell you with certainty I would never travel to countries like this even albeit as a US citizen as their legal system and moral conduct and overall society is extremely terrifying to me, I would never adhere to the conduct they require and I will not contribute to the economy and tourism industry in such places, not even for the hajj unfortunately, I opt out on principle. People would be surprised I think to know that there are probably more conservative minded Muslims in the USA than in say, Damascus or Cairo, in my experience that is def the case. Polygamy is more of a joke to us as we know what some non Muslims believe and find it funny to joke about Bc it's not reality for anyone we know personally

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