The Men with Many Wives | Our Life

Apr 9, 2024 | This revealing film explores the world of polygamous marriages amongst British Muslims. While polygamy is illegal under British law, it is permitted under Sharia law, and while unusual, some estimate there are as many as 20,000 polygamous marriages amongst Muslims in the UK today. The film examines the daily challenges of polygamous life and the motivation behind those looking for another wife and considers whether they are compelled by desire or tradition and meets those who are trying to make polygamy acceptable to mainstream UK society. The film poses difficult questions, not only around reconciling Muslim values with modern British society but also on questions of duty, love and betrayal. | This film was first broadcast: 24 Sep 2014

Welcome to the new Britain! We indigenous Britons will soon be in the minority. Birth rates in the Muslim communities are far higher than in the indigenous, British communities. This can mean one thing and one thing only: the future of the United Kingdom belongs to Muslims and Islam! Our politicians have a lot to answer for, and so have feminists. Who gave our politicians the right to allow polygamy in the United Kingdom? White, Christian Brits would be jailed if they were found to have multiple wives. So what makes it alright for one community, but not for the other? Our future looks bleak; or future looks green; our future looks Islamic! – © Mark Alexander

Bernie Jessop | From Mormon to Polygamist: How a Gay Man Found His Path | Reupload

Apr 30, 2020 | He was born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in a turn of events Bernie was excommunicated. His excommunication didn’t come because he is gay—that would come later—but because he joined a fundamentalist polygamous church. How does someone who knows he is gay, decide to enter into polygamy? Watch this episode to find out.

Bernie Jessop | From Mormon to Polygamist: How A Gay Man Found His Path

Apr 30, 2020 • He was born into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and in a turn of events Bernie was excommunicated. His excommunication didn’t come because he is gay—that would come later—but because he joined a fundamentalist polygamous church. How does someone who knows he is gay, decide to enter into polygamy? Watch this episode to find out.

Muslims Call for Polygamy to Be Legalized in Italy after Same-sex Marriage Gets Nod (Debate)

In response to the Italian city of Milan introducing same-sex civil unions, a prominent Muslim activist has called for polygamy to be legalized as well. To discuss further RT is joined by political commentator David Vance and Azad Chaiwala, who created the website Secondwife.com.

Wives with Benefits: Immigrants with More Than One Spouse Win Extra Payments under New Reforms

BREITBART.COM: Immigrants with many wives stand to make substantial financial gains under looming changes to Britain’s welfare system.

Polygamous marriages, which form a common thread in Islam, are recognised in Britain but only if they take place in countries where they are legal. Now a House of Commons library paper, published earlier this month, has highlighted a loophole that will allow additional wives coming to the UK to claim a full single person’s allowance while the husband and his first wife still receive their respective benefits. » | Simon Kent | Sunday, January 24, 2016

Why Putin’s Anti-gay Crusaders Have a Soft Spot for Polygamy

THE SPECTATOR: The Kremlin is tying itself in ideological knots as it tries to make new friends in the Muslim world

Homosexuality may not be tolerated in today’s Russia, nor political dissent. Polygamy, though, is a different matter. Ever since news broke this summer of a 57-year-old police chief in Chechnya bullying a 17-year-old local girl into becoming his second wife, Russian nationalists and Islamic leaders alike have been lining up to call for a man’s right to take more than one wife.

Most vocal has been Ramzan Kadyrov, the flamboyant 38-year-old president of Chechnya (part of the Russian Federation), who advocates polygamy as part of ‘traditional Muslim culture’. Veteran ultranationalist politician Vladimir Zhironovsky has long held that polygamy is the solution for ‘Russia’s 10 million unmarried women’. And even Senator Yelena Mizulina, one of the architects of Russia’s anti-gay laws, is sympathetic to the idea. ‘There are not enough men, the kind with whom women would want to start a family and have children,’ Mizulina told the Duma, calling a fellow lawmaker’s plans to make polygamy a criminal offence ‘absurd’. Read on and comment » | Owen Matthews | Saturday, August 8, 2015

UK’s First Female Sharia Judge: ‘We Can’t Ask Muslims Not to Have More Than One Wife’

BREITBART.COM: Britain’s first female sharia law judge has issued a brazen warning that flies in the face of UK law, stating that the “government cannot ask Muslims not to have more than one wife”.

The news comes on the back of a report by the Times newspaper which claims that Britain is experiencing a “surge” in Sharia marriages, as young British Muslims adopt a more hardline religious stance than their parents.

The Times reports:

“As many as 100,000 couples are living in such marriages, which are not valid under UK law, experts said. Ministers have raised fears that women can be left without the right to a fair share of assets if the relationship ends, while others are forced to return to abusive “husbands”.”

A leading Islamic family lawyer warned that the increase in Sharia ceremonies among the 2.7 million-strong Muslim population in Britain was also behind a growth in “secret polygamy”. more | Raheem Kassam | Thursday, July 2, 2015

DAILY EXPRESS: Sham Sharia weddings leave Muslim women exposed to abuse and cheating husbands: AN ESTIMATED 100,000 British Muslim women are being duped into sham Sharia marriage - leaving them exposed to abusive and cheating husbands. » | Rebecca Perring | Friday, July 3, 2015

Polygamous Gay Marriage Ceremony Held in Thailand: 'We All Had a Lot of Feelings for Each Other'

What may be the world's first polygamous gay marriage took place in Thailand on Valentine's Day, as three gay men were married in a religious ceremony. The men, identified only by their first names as Joke, 29, Bell, 21 and Art, 26, say their marriage is recognized by Buddhist law. The marriage is not recognized by…

The Stream: Marriage in Kenya: A Man's World?

Kenyan parliament passes a bill that legalises polygamy without a wife’s consent.

Utah's Mormons Celebrate as Polygamy Restrictions Are Struck Down

THE INDEPENDENT: Part of law was ruled in violation of First Amendment

A US federal judge has struck down a key part of Utah’s law banning polygamy – providing welcome relief to one practising Mormon family.

Joe Darger, who described himself as an “independent Mormon fundamentalist”, has 25 children with three wives.

US District Judge Clark Waddoups threw out part of a bill which allows the state to use cohabitation as a basis for prosecution, although Utah does still prohibit bigamy.

Cousins Elena and Vicki married Joe in 1990 and in 1992 Vicki’s twin sister Valerie joined them.

The unusual family have always worried Joe could face arrest, but the latest ruling means the state cannot use cohabitation as a basis for prosecution as it goes against the individuals’ right to freedom of religion enshrined in the First Amendment. » | Rose Troup Buchanan | Monday, February 10, 2014

Op-Ed: Sharia-Life: A Geo-Political Time Bomb About to Explode

ARUTZ SHEVA: A7 [Fern Sidman] interviews Phyllis Chesler, whose new book "An American Bride in Kabul" is a fascinating account of her life in the Sharia-controlled Muslim world - one from which she barely escaped with her life, but which has begun to flourish in the USA.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, internationally renowned pioneer feminist, professor, psychotherapist and prolific author and op-ed contributor to Arutz Sheva has a feverish schedule these days. On October 1, her latest book entitled, "An American Bride in Kabul" [UK] is scheduled to be released and the pre-publication copies have caught the attention of the media.

As she juggles interviews with major outlets and plans an international speaking tour, Dr. Chesler, sat down with Arutz Sheva in her very first interview to discuss her compelling memoir; both a personal narrative and scholarly monograph and written in her spellbinding and flowing style.

Chesler, brought up in an Orthodox Jewish home, eventually returned to her roots and is able to look at her period in Afghanistan with discernment and objectivity. This is a book whose time has come. » | Interview by Fern Sidman | Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Gay Weddings Pave the Way for Polygamy, Warns Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey

MAIL ONLINE: Lord Carey said same-sex marriage laws could open the door for marriages between siblings / He has been one of the most prominent campaigners against same-sex marriage / Ministers are braced for an attempt to wreck the Marriage Bill next week

A former Archbishop of Canterbury yesterday warned David Cameron that his ‘equal marriage’ reforms open the door for multiple weddings and marriages between siblings.

Lord Carey said that same-sex marriage laws amount to a radical and disturbing upheaval which is likely to lead to unintended consequences.

Among them he listed the inclusion of polygamous and multiple relationships into the definition of marriage, and the right for two sisters living together to demand a legal wedding.

The intervention from Lord Carey, one of the most prominent campaigners against same-sex marriage since the Prime Minister first announced his plan in the autumn of 2011, comes as peers prepare to debate the new marriage law. » | Steve Doughty | Friday, May 31, 2013

Four Wives and One Husband: Polygamy in Iran

The Obedient Wives Club - Malaysia

Lord Carey: Gay Marriage Could Have 'Drastic' Consequences Including Risk Of Polygamy

THE MAIL ON SUNDAY: The former Archbishop of Canterbury will set out his reasons why he believes gay marriage would 'strike at the very fabric of society' at the Tory party conference

David Cameron's plans to allow gay marriage could have ‘drastic’ consequences, even allowing men to marry more than one woman, the former Archbishop of Canterbury will warn Conservatives tomorrow.

In a speech at this week’s party conference, Lord Carey will say same-sex marriages ‘strike at the very fabric of society’.

He will say it is difficult to know at this stage what the consequences would be if gay marriage were introduced, according to a draft seen by The Mail on Sunday.

But he will cite developments in other countries where the law is being liberalised, including France, where the government intends to ban the words ‘mother and father’ from official documents, replacing them with ‘parents’. » | Jonathan Petre | Sunday, October 07, 2012

Opponents of Gay Marriages Say It Will 'Open the Door to Polygamy and Incest'
THE GUARDIAN: Claims by lobby group that reform of law would have far-reaching effects attacked as 'extremist and confused'

A lobby group against gay marriage, formed by MPs and bishops, is embroiled in a row after one of its leaflets claimed that reforming the law would open the door to incest, polygamy and a new wave of illegal immigration.

The eight-page document, produced by the Keep Marriage Special campaign, whose supporters include the former bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir Ali, warns of the "consequential impact" of the reform.

The glossy leaflet, which has a picture of a mixed-race couple in an embrace on the cover, claims: "If the only basis for marriage is the desire of the parties to get married then there is, according to the logic of this proposal, no reason not to open up marriage to more than just same-sex couples. Polygamy, polyandry and incest would all be permissible."

It adds: "The immigration service is already swamped with false marriages – this would only add to their problems."

At the moment, only men and women are permitted to marry; same-sex couples can only form civil partnerships, which became law in 2005. Civil partnerships give same-sex couples the right to the same legal treatment as married couples across a range of matters, but the law does not allow such unions to be referred to as marriages. » | Daniel Boffey, Policy Editor | Saturday, June 23, 2012

Islamic Scholar Condemns Gay Marriage in Nigeria
NIGERIAN TRIBUNE: AN Islamic scholar, (Alhaji) Abideen Olaiya, has condemned the proposed gay marriage in the country, saying that it is Unislamic [sic], satanic, evil and ungodly act which shows the end time of the earth.

Olaiya who was a guest lecturer at the Walimot Nikah between Sister Nafisat Opeyemi Abdul-Rasaq and Barrister Qasim Hussain Odedeji, the Amir, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), Osogbo branch, Osun State, made this known while delivering his lecture entitled "Challenges of Marriage In our society [sic].”

He maintained that it was the right of men and women to marry each other Islamically on this planet, stressing that it was legal and right in Islam for a man with necessary powers to marry more than one wife.

According to him, only men endowed by Allah with sexual, intelligent and financial power were allowed by Islam to marry more than one wife, urging the Muslim men with the enumerated powers to marry more than one wife. » | Friday, April 13, 2012

Santorum Compares Marriage Equality to Polygamy

ADVOCATE.COM: Santorum Vs. Students on His Slippery-Slope Logic » | Friday, January 06, 2012

Related »

ADVOCATE.COM: Santorum Says He's Barely Mentioned Gay Rights » | Michelle Garcia | Thursday, January 05, 2012

British Muslims Reviving Polygamy
THE AUSTRALIAN: A GROWING number of young British Muslims are taking second or third wives in an unexpected revival of polygamy, according to religious leaders.

The new wave of polygamy is revealed in a special report by the BBC Asian Network using findings from the Islamic Sharia Council.

The council, which provides legal advice and guidance to Muslims, said it was receiving an unprecedented number of inquiries about polygamous marriages.

Its most recent figures show that, for the first time, polygamy is now among the top ten reasons cited for divorce, as wives decide that they can no longer tolerate competing with one another.

Polygamy is illegal in Britain, but Muslim men can take a second, third or even a fourth wife under Sharia law in a religious ceremony known as the nikah [Wiki].

These wives are not recognised by British law, but are considered legitimate within many Muslim communities. Khola Hasan, lecturer and adviser to the Islamic Sharia Council, said it was clear that polygamy among the younger generation was on the increase.

"Out of 700 applications for divorce in 2010, 43 cited polygamy as the reason," she said.
Ms Hasan said her research uncovered three main reasons for the growth in polygamy. The first is the growing number of young Muslim men who want to practise a more orthodox and conservative form of the religion.

"Young men who have come into a more radical understanding of faith know it is illegal to marry more than once [under British law], but do it to spite the system," Ms Hasan said. » | • Rosemary Bennett | The Times | Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Rise in British Muslim Polygamy
THE TIMES: British Muslims are taking second or third wives in an unexpected revival of polygamy, according to religious leaders Muslim women call their lawyers as polygamy thrives » | Rosemary Bennett | Social Affairs Correspondent | Tuesday, September 27, 2011 [£]