CII chief opposes laws against polygamy

There is no harm to have more than one marriage according to Islam but the existing laws have complicated this issue


Peer Muhammad March 10, 2014
The current marriage law requires a male Muslim to seek a written approval from his existing wife. PHOTO: FILE

ISLAMABAD: The head of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) declared on Monday that the current laws regarding multiple marriages are against the principles of Shariah law.

“There is no harm for a man to have more than one marriage according to Islam but the existing marriage laws have complicated this issue and need to be amended,” CII Chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sheerani told journalists after chairing a meeting that looked into the  Marriage Laws 1961.

The government must tweak the laws in order to make them compliant with Shariah ruling, he said. The issue was discussed during the CII’s two-day meeting following queries from across the country seeking the constitutional body’s advice, said Maulana Sheerani, who is also a JUI-F lawmaker.

The CII also discussed Shariah-related cases pending in the Supreme Court and resolved to write a letter to the apex court requesting updates on such cases.

The current marriage law requires a male Muslim to seek a written approval from his existing wife or wives in order to enter another marriage. Maulana Sheerani said such approval is not required as Shariah laws have defined provisions for more than one marriage ‘which are easy to understand and follow’.

Additionally, the CII said laws related to nikkah, divorce, adulthood and wills need to be formulated in accordance with Shariah laws. Sheerani said the CII has forwarded its recommendations from 1997 to 2009 and reports from 2010-11 and 2011-12 to parliament.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 11th, 2014.

COMMENTS (34)

TARIQ mahmud | 10 years ago | Reply

By that analogy compliance implies that only oral evidence of Wedlock should be good enough . The CII may well then knock down the provision of registration of marriage and documented Nikha !

TeenagersCommonSense | 10 years ago | Reply

Firstly, The title of the article is misleading. Pakistan is a Islamic nation, polygamy was never illegal and probably wont be in the near future. What is illegal is Marrying a second wife without the firsts consent/permission. The Islamic council suggests that by the Sharia being too general on multiple wife the default interpretation should thus be the riskier option of without Women's consent/permission which will give men the better choice (ee good for us guys). No one saw this as a gift by god to have many interpretations based on the needs and circumstance of the time period. Just to clarify a cause benefit analysis done by a child could figure out this would severely disadvantage women on-top of the already injustice's on women in rural (and urban) areas in our society. If your a misogynistic or Taliban than you should support this interpretation.

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