There’s a show on SBS called BIG LOVE and it’s compelling. It’s a drama about what goes on in a polygamous marriage in America and follows a man and his three wives.
I like it because it’s a show. But would I want it to be real? No. And not here.
Sheikh Khalil Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre in Lakemba yesterday said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia. He believes polygamy in Australia should be legally recognised. Really?
According to the Herald-Sun, the Sheikh said:
.. Not an open door but in a way everyone will have control,” he told Triple J’s Hack program.
“It’s a bit hard, very difficult, but unless we face it, how (do) we overcome it?“If you know there is law that will help you, there is community will help you. Why not? Why not change the law?” Sheikh Chami said he was asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies. While he declined to perform such ceremonies, he said, other sheikhs did not.
“There are a lot of sheikhs here without any qualifications, without any place,” he said.
“They’ll conduct that marriage no problem at all.”
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said recognising polygamous unions would help protect the rights of women in the relationship.
Oh sure. PROTECT the rights of the women. After the jump, his argument gets even better….
Mr Trad once proposed to another woman with the consent of his wife, Hanefa, but the second marriage did not proceed.
“I certainly would not have entertained the thought of having a relationship without a religious marriage and I thought the relationship with that person was developing to the stage where we had become too friendly with each other,” he told the program.
“Rather than entertain any thoughts of an affair I thought the only decent thing to do was to consider a proper commitment to that person.
“This idea of plural sexual relationships, it is not so much frowned upon by society as long as these people don’t say we want a polygamous relationship.”
Mr Trad’s mother was a third wife in a polygamous relationship overseas and he said the women had admiration and respect for each other and supported each other.
“In a sense, it’s a compliment to the original partner that if he didn’t find marriage to be so good why would he go into it again,” he said.
“In a sense, he’s saying that his first wife has made life like heaven for him so he’s willing to provide the same service, love and support to a second woman.”
He said women were choosing to enter into such marriages.
Isn’t it funny how a discussion of polygamy in Australia or elsewhere never includes the idea that women could have several husbands?
What are your thoughts on the Sheikh’s views on polygamy in Australia?
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Top Comments
i love reading gig's posts. you make so much sense!
Nicoleta, my 'way of life' statement could be taken as alienating to newer citizens of Australia. I recognise that, and apologise.Thanks for pointing that out. The essence of healthy debate is hopefully to learn from other people's input. Yes, the view that Australians have 'a way of life' that needs to be maintained, or protected, is perhaps unrealistic and unproductive.
We welcome change. After all, we have been the sibblings of change ever since the first landing. This country is a relatively new nation, 200 years somewhat. We owe a huge debt to the indigenenous population who inhabited this land for the previous thousand years. We also owe them a great big 'sorry', one much bigger than our Prime Minister's recent attempt. We also owe ourselves a great big 'hurrah' for having created the most admired and usually envied society on the planet.
Step back a minute and breathe the air here. Whether you live in Sydney or Melbourne, on a back block in Narabri, or a beach at Land's End, our lifestyle is attractive and salubrius. We are living in a country that is safer than most, which offers you welfare should you need it, is free of war, and gives you the opportunity to become an entrepreneur should you so desire it.
Given those attributes, wouldn't anyone choose this country ?
Once chosen, it is the responsibilty of the citizen to respect his/her surrounding citizens who have helped make this nation great. Seeking to inflict tribal laws on modern day Australian society is an archaic act of separatism. We are a new nation, we respect discussion and discourse. However, ideas are met with derision when they clearly undermine the 21st Century society we now live in. Any attempt to reduce us, as a people, to a state of feudalism is unlikely to gain a foothold, and will always be denounced.
While your quote, 'It is not a stagnant unchanging set of rules', is relevant, I feel we need to be in agreement about which rules we change. Those of us who have been here longest have appreciated this country longest. I do not want decisions about my society being made by someone who recently called Baghdad home. It's just my preference. I wouldn't presume to move to Baghdad and issue similar proclamations.