British Peer: Polygamy ‘Commonplace’ Within Muslim Communities in Britain

Oct 19, 2016 by Jill

by Donna Rachel Edmunds, Breitbart:

Polygamy is “commonplace” within Muslim communities in Britain, with husbands fathering as many as 20 children by four wives, a Peer has said. She has called for a change in the law so that Muslim women know their rights under British law not to be discriminated against.

Although it has long been recognised that polygamy occurs in Muslim communities, it is typically seen as very rare.

But in a statement delivered to a conference on Islam in the UK on Sunday, Baroness Cox, a cross-bench member of the house of Lords, told the audience that polygamy in some communities is “commonplace” and that, as the marriages are Islamic ceremonies which have no legal status in British law, women who find themselves in polygamous marriages are being left without any rights.

Furthermore, the situation is being enabled by the acceptance of sharia councils in the UK, which Baroness Cox called a “parallel legal system”.

She explained: “Under sharia law, a husband is entitled to up to four wives providing he takes responsibility for making appropriate provision for all. In many Muslim communities in this country, polygamy is commonplace although as a nation bigamy is legally forbidden.”

She added: “Many [women] in polygamous marriages have said their husbands failed to provide financial support. Some were not even aware they were being married into polygamous relationships. Many are desperately unhappy.”

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