Russian SAM names conditions for permissible polygamy for Muslims

As follows from a fatwa (a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (sharia), – note of the “Caucasian Knot”) of the Ulema Council of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia, polygamy is permissible for Muslim men in Russia, and a Muslim can be in a religious marriage with four women with fair and equal treatment of all his wives.

The fatwa notes that the legal basis for a married man to marry another woman may be the inability or unwillingness of his spouse to bear children, “sexual incompatibility of spouses” or “the desire of a man to provide social and material support to a single woman and her children.” The man is obliged to inform his second wife about the presence of his first wife, while it is only “desirable” to inform the first wife about her husband’s new religious marriage. A woman who did not agree in advance to the status of another wife has the right to demand a divorce if a man did not inform her about the presence of his other wives.

The justification for the fatwa emphasizes that the number of Muslim religious marriages with a second, third, and fourth wife has increased in Russia, although the Russian law only recognizes one officially registered marriage.

The fatwa is intended to protect the rights of second and subsequent wives, states Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, the deputy chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims (SAM) of Russia. Ildar Alyautdinov notes that when entering into another religious marriage, a man must adopt all of his new wife’s children and draw up a will.