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Malaysian Muslim women told they could include 'no-polygamy clause'
The Straits Times In the latest twist to a controversial debate, Muslim women in Malaysia have been told that they have the right to include a no-polygamy clause in their marriage contracts. Ms Noriani Nik Badli Shah, research manager of Sisters in Islam, an NGO which lobbies for the rights of Muslim women, said not many Muslim women were aware of this right, and those who did were discouraged from using it by social pressure. 'It is up to individual couples whether to use it or not, but Islam sanctions the inclusion of such conditions in the marriage contract,' she said. Muslim countries such as Syria, Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan and Bangladesh have already adopted the ruling that a husband who agrees not to take another wife in his marriage contract would be bound by that stipulation. Guess that sounds fair to me, though as an agnostic, I'm still wondering why it's only the men who get more than one wife. I'd guess it's because two husbands represent twice the work for a woman, while a man thinks in terms of doubling his pleasure. That makes polygamy kind of the triumph of theory over empirical experience. Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-01-19 |
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