Unspeakable Gluttony
What is it with men, that they're so enamoured of the idea of a harem? Interesting that the seraglio, the harem, the gathering of select specimens of female-kind in concubinage so absorbs the imagination of many men. Interesting too that the reality or what comes as close to it as conceivable in this modern world has its origin in the Middle East. And that would be, of course, because in primitive societies men were able to exercise that kind of authority over women; to gather them together and claim them for his own delectation.Sharia law in Islam permits multiple marriages. A Muslim man may take multiple wives, but he must be able to adequately care for all his wives, and that would certainly include the care and upkeep of the children that would result from those marriages. In most other societies, and most certainly those of the West, polygamy, polyandry and polygany are outlawed, in recognition of cultural practises that celebrate monogamy, one man, one woman united in marriage and producing offspring; a legally-sanctioned covenant.
Although it's also true that some western countries find themselves harbouring mini societies where tradition had it - as with the Mormon society - that multiple wives are in concordance with their beliefs. In Canada there are Muslim men who have successfully managed to evade suspicion even while they sponsored multiple wives under the guise of representing other family members, for emigration to the country. And where, indeed, many live not on the sweat of their brow, but through social welfare.
In which case they're not really recognizing the precepts of Islam which insists that a man who aspires to take to himself more than one wife must also be able to afford that licit little luxury. And some societies, like that of Wahhabist Saudi Arabia, take the letter of Koranic law as they interpret it, seriously indeed. Four wives, maximum, that's it. So this little story out of the Kingdom is rather interesting.
It would appear that a man who is employed by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (say that quickly, please do, and without sniggering, mind, you licentious moron), which is to say the religious police referred to as the Muttawa, has been arrested. Not for a lack of zeal in prosecuting the task at hand, ensuring that Saudis behave in a manner consistent with the expectations of Islam as practised in Saudi Arabia, however.
The man has been charged with the offense of taking in excess of four wives. Two more, in fact, than permitted. Three wives in Yemen, and another three Saudi women. He's 56-years of age, perhaps a late-mid-life crisis impelled this impetuous lover of women to proceed with less than caution? The man, unnamed by the news report, denies he has a problem with simple math. He claims to have divorced two of the spouses.
The governor of the province in which he resides, however, has his doubts and he has ordered a committee be formed to investigate.
Labels: Realities, Religion, Social-Cultural Deviations
posted by Pieface @ Friday, August 01, 2008
<< Home