Polygamy in Tunisia

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Tunisia became the first Arab state to formally abolish polygamy in 1956, [1] the same year it gained official independence.

Tunisia remains one of the few predominantly Muslim nations that has legally banned polygamy. Turkey banned the practice in 1926, while the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq banned polygamy in 2008.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygyny</span> Mating system in which the male partner may have multiple partners

Polygyny is the most common and accepted form of polygamy around the world, entailing the marriage of a man with several women.

Polygamy is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tunisia</span> Country in North Africa

Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a part of the Maghreb region of North Africa, bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. It features the archaeological sites of Carthage dating back to the 9th century BC, as well as the Great Mosque of Kairouan. Known for its ancient architecture, souks and blue coasts, it covers 163,610 km2 (63,170 sq mi), and has a population of 12.1 million. It contains the eastern end of the Atlas Mountains and the northern reaches of the Sahara desert; much of its remaining territory is arable land. Its 1,300 km (810 mi) of coastline include the African conjunction of the western and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Basin. Tunisia is home to Africa's northernmost point, Cape Angela. Located on the northeastern coast, Tunis is the capital and largest city in the country. Tunisia is named after Tunis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bigamy</span> Act of having two concurrent marriages

In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. In the case of a person in the process of divorcing their spouse, that person is taken to be legally married until such time as the divorce becomes final or absolute under the law of the relevant jurisdiction. Bigamy laws do not apply to couples in a de facto or cohabitation relationship, or that enter such relationships when one is legally married. If the prior marriage is for any reason void, the couple is not married, and hence each party is free to marry another without falling foul of the bigamy laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Islam in Tunisia</span> Religion in Tunisia

Islam is the official state religion in Tunisia. According to CIA, 99.1% of its adherents are Sunni Muslims. The constitution of Tunisia states that the country's “religion is Islam”, the government is the “guardian of religion”, and requires that the president be Muslim. The predominant madhhab in the country is the Maliki school. The Tunisian island of Djerba is home to a population of Ibadi Muslims.

Nikah halala, also known as tahleel marriage, is a practice in which a woman, after being divorced by triple talaq, marries another man, consummates the marriage, and gets divorced again in order to be able to remarry her former husband. Nikah means marriage and halala means to make something halal, or permissible. This form of marriage is haram (forbidden) according to the hadith of Islamic prophet Muhammad. Nikah halala is practiced by a small minority of Muslims, mainly in countries that recognise the triple talaq.

Conflict of marriage laws is the conflict of laws with respect to marriage in different jurisdictions. When marriage-related issues arise between couples with diverse backgrounds, questions as to which legal systems and norms should be applied to the relationship naturally follow with various potentially applicable systems frequently conflicting with one another.

Traditional Sunni and Shia Islamic marital jurisprudence allows Muslim men to be married to multiple women. Men can have up to four wives at a time according to the islamic jurisprudence.

The Code of Personal Status (CPS) is a series of progressive Tunisian laws aiming at the institution of equality between women and men in a number of areas. It was promulgated by beylical decree on August 13, 1956 and came into effect on January 1, 1957. This Code is one of the best known deeds of Habib Bourguiba, who was Prime Minister and later President.

As Yemen is a mostly-Muslim nation, polygamy is lawful. Polygamy is permissible in Islam up to four wives, as long as the husband devotes equal attention to each of them. In 1999, it was estimated that 7% of married women were in polygamous unions. By 2020, the percentage had fallen to 2%. Polygamy in Yemen is significantly less common than it is in the "polygamy belt", a predominantly Muslim area of Western and Central Africa where the practice is most common. Additionally, women living in rural areas or mountainous settings are more likely to contract a polygamous marriage than women living in the coastal region or urban settings of the country. In the same fashion, it was reported that the majority of women living in polygamous unions tended to be less educated than those living in monogamous marriages.

Polygamy is illegal in France and has been the center of recent political debates, due to surges of Malian immigrants living polygamously in the country. Due to such, stricter laws have been enforced to stomp out polygamy.

Polygamy is legal in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world. Polygamy in Indonesia is not just practiced by Muslims, but also customarily done by non-Muslim minorities, such as the Balinese and the Papuans.

The legal status of polygamy varies widely around the world. Polygyny is legal in 58 out of nearly 200 sovereign states, the vast majority of them being Muslim-majority countries. Some countries that permit polygamy have restrictions, such as requiring the first wife to give her consent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygamy in Turkey</span>

Turkey is a predominantly Muslim nation that has abolished polygamy, which was officially criminalized with the adoption of the Turkish Civil Code in 1926, a milestone in Atatürk's secularist reforms. Penalties for illegal polygamy are up to 2 years imprisonment. Turkey has long been known for its promotion of secularism and later introduced even stricter bars on polygamy. Even the ruling moderate AK Parti effectively banned polygamists from entering or living in the country.

Since the December 2010 revolution in Tunisia and protests across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) began, Tunisian women have played an unprecedented part in the protests. Habib Bourguiba began instituting secular freedoms for women in 1956, such as access to higher education, the right to file for divorce, and certain job opportunities. Women in Tunisia enjoy certain freedoms and rights that are denied to women in neighboring countries, although the social norms have shifted since 2011.

Secularism in Tunisia is an ideological and political movement aiming at defining the relationship between religion and state and the place of religion in society during an ongoing modernization. The Tunisian Constitution of 2014 affirmed Tunisia as a civil state founded on citizenship. It also declared Islam as Tunisia's religion. The following religious festivals are recognized as national holidays: the Islamic New Year, the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha.

Polygamy in Guinea is generally illegal. Polygamy is regulated under the new 2019 family law. The new regulations stipulate that a marriage is presumed to be monogamous; however a couple may legally enter into a polygynous marriage if the groom declares that he is opting for polygyny during the marriage ceremony and the bride gives "explicit consent". The new law is the result of a long legislative battle between those who wanted free polygamy without restrictions and those who wanted a complete ban.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Othman Battikh</span> Tunisian Islamic leader (1941–2022)

Othman Battikh was a Tunisian Islamic scholar and Grand Mufti of Tunisia from 2008 to 2013. He also served as member of the Tunisian government.

Polygamy is legal in Egypt, but not common.

The National Union of Tunisian Women is a non-governmental organization in Tunisia founded in 1956. The current UNFT president is Radhia Jerbi.

References

  1. "Tunisian women free to marry non-Muslims". BBC News . 15 September 2017. Archived from the original on Aug 24, 2018. The country banned polygamy as far back as 1956, setting it apart from other Muslim-majority nations.