POLYGAMY MARRIAGE comparative analysis

Document Type:Thesis

Subject Area:Sociology

Document 1

However, there are three major forms of polygamy marriage which include; polygynous, polyandrous and group marriage. From the very beginning in America there have been several documented polygamy marriage that totals to a sizable no of the world nations. Nevertheless Muslim countries have recorded a bigger number of polygamous marriages since their believe encourages it. However this marriage has its own benefits and disadvantages too. Therefore this type of marriage should be encouraged to people who can financially take care of more than one wife. In this case, the applied law is that a man who is considered polygamous is the one who has more than one wife and to whom all are known. Polygamy is different from adulterous acts since on adulterous act is the form of cheating one’s partner with another or others while for polygamy it is an open relationship with married partners or spouses.

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Polygamy as a type of marriage has gotten practiced across divine with it being effective in areas where its legality has been anchored in law as well as accepted by the people as a way of life. Forms of polygamy The polygamy marriage is made up of different types of polygamy marriage and which have been the core basis of its definition and appliance to having multiple partners within a marriage. The forms of polygamy marriage help to identify the differing provisions of the polygamy marriage and what it entails in the long-run of the whole initiative of marriage. Even though with its minimal practice, polyandry form of polygamous marriage has been practiced over the ages and might still be in practice in the modern society.

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The polyandry marriage is a form of marriage where a woman is married to more than one man and whom she refers to as her husbands, (Jonas, 2012). It is simply a form of marriage where a woman has multiple partners and to whom he refers to as her husbands and who are known to each other in general. The men can be brothers or even referred to as brothers, and in sharing of the children, the children are provided to have descended from the eldest brother. However, where the husbands have no blood relation, the children are identified through a ceremony or even distributed equally among the husbands and to whom all get referred to as fathers, (Jonas, 2012). Polygamy marriage is spread across different sections of the world provide that even the Muslim groups are all over the world and across nations.

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Therefore, it gets asserted that with the spread demographics, polygamous marriage gets widely spread in a different section. Its concentration, however, is provided to be in large numbers and, the majority across the Islamic nations such as in the Middle East countries. There have gotten established studies that almost 80% of human societies have permitted polygamy marriage and to which most have viewed as a way of reducing marriage breakups from aspects of adulterous acts, (Heath, 2017). It is, therefore, significant to articulate that polygamy marriage gets widely spread across the world. The Muslim practice of polygamy gets anchored on the verse in Quran (4:3) which provides that a man may marry up to four wives, (Thobejane & Flora 2014). Under such a circumstance it is evident that the practice all over by the Muslim community has its basis under which they are correct to practice and have it made legal.

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The prevalent of this condition mostly found within the Asia continent, Africa as well as other continents that have Muslim population living inside. With this indication, there seems to have the polygamy practice among the Muslim community anchored within their religious believes continue to be practiced. With the religion accepting the factor of polygamous, the believers of the religion do follow suit in practicing this form of marriage. Within the African society, polygamy was an accepted norm and to which was used as a measure of the wealth of that man since he could take care of the extended family, (Baloyi, 2013). The reflection of the polygamy marriage, however, within the context of the African society has been associated with lower class and poverty levels since the provision of basic needs for the extended family has been a difficult task to achieve.

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The perspective of the African society regarded polygamous practice with the men believing of their superior state and the women being inferior and subject to their authority provided for the extent of practicing polygamous marriage. All this practice was based down within the ancient traditions of the African society before the coming of the European colonizers and missionaries. The Christianity spread to the converts restricted them from conducting polygamous marriages and opted to change from those traditional beliefs. It has been provided in many nations and areas to get prohibited from happening with laws passed making it illegal. The basis under which the polygamous marriage seems to work has roots within religious faction as well as traditional setting, The Muslim book of law, Quran is the guiding factor towards the practice of polygamous marriage among the Muslims.

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In accordance to the Quran, a man can marry up to four wives but not exceeding those four, and of whom all are his family, (Olsen, 2009 ). The Quran is the law book followed by Muslim and Muslim nations towards permitting the practice of polygamous marriage. The Quran allows a man to marry more than one wife; however, it does not put it as a mandatory expectation for every Muslim man to practice it. Polygamy association with wealth status and development: The maintenance of a household in developing society has been an attribution to how many members of the family are there and the purpose each serves. In the United States and other Western nations, polygamous marriage got associated with low productivity and high poverty levels given that the man was to provide for all the wives and children.

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It means that the expenditure was more than what was the output and hence both in capitalist and socialist nations there was a need to take care of that notion. On the other side, the Muslim nations even with their underdeveloped status considered large families as a measure of their wealth standards and respect within society. The two notions provided for the differing situation of polygamy being outlawed in the United States while it is allowed and accepted widely in Islamic nations. Under Christianity, belief is that a man should marry only one wife and so is the case of the wife, (Kudo, 2017). The application of these beliefs anchored in the Bible help to shape the behavior of the spouses and limit them from coveting over another man’s or woman’s partner.

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Christianity religion has prohibited its members against taking more than one partner in marriage as it is the requirements of the Bible. Through this measure, the religion can reduce marriage breakdowns; health status of the partners is well monitored as well as promotes family development due to the concentration on one household. Benefits and Costs of Polygamy Benefits Extra benefits for men: The provision of polygamous marriage although has been limited in some nations, there seems to be an extra benefit to men with the allowance of polygamy marriage. It does not author well with the trending aspect of the society of achieving a gender balance and equality across the society and hence limiting the efforts to achieve that. Polyamory versus polygamy Polyamorous is the new trending aspect in relationship matters.

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It is the aspect of having multiple relationships which can either be sexual or not, (Stevens, 2016). It is simply a situation where one is in more than one relationship that entails either romance or no romance between the partners. Under polyamorous, the partners are expected to have open communication towards each other and always expect respect. Conclusion Polygamy marriage has been mostly encouraged by Muslim communities and has gained popularity in many Muslim countries. The Muslims believe that from the Quran, Allah instructs them to take more than one wife. However Christian discourages the practice since they believe that God created one man one woman and therefore rarely practice polygamy. However, this type of marriage is mainly encouraged to members who can take care of multiple wives since this marriage is costly.

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