A RISING number of single and divorced women in Saudi Arabia has lead a “cartel” of eight marriage officials to promote polygamy as the solution to all single ladies’ problems.
But the modern polygamist woman has high expectations, including demands of a dowry of AU$217,000 and a knowledge and memory of the entire Qur’an.
The Saudi Gazette reports members of the cartel were calling on young men to “marry more than one wife in order to cut down the number of Saudi women without partners to share their life”.
The group are using the social media app, Whatsapp, to connect partners under the name “polygamy”. They began the group after noticing an increase in divorce and decided polygamy was the answer. The practice is common in the desert country, known as the birthplace of Islam.
The members, despite being anonymous, say they are ready to matchmake, free of charge.
More than 900 women — divorcees, widows and “spinsters” — have reportedly signed up, suggesting they were aggreable to the idea of becoming a second, third or fourth wife.
A website that promotes modern polygamy.Source:Supplied
It’s not just in Saudi Arabia. An Afghan man was accompanied by two of his wives at a local market in Fayzabad, Afghanistan.Source:istock
“Some women only gave their nationality or the name of their tribes but they have submitted sufficient information to enable the marriage officials contact them easily whenever there is an interested suitor,” the Gazette reads.
Nationalities consist of Saudi, Yemeni, Moroccan, Syrian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Nigerian, Bangladeshi, Chinese and Pakistani women. Ages ranged from 18 to 55-years-old. They even recorded women’s weight ranges, from 45kg to 98kg and height, from 4’7” to 5’10”.
The list included women who had an educational range of nil to a PhD.
A Yemeni Jewish woman covers her face with a veil as she peeps through the iron door of her house in village of Raydah. The small community of Yemeni Jews live by their traditions, keeping their women veiled and who practice polygamy.Source:AFP
Polygamist Tom Green walks to Court with his five wives Hannah (L), Cari (2nd L), Linda (3rd R), LeeAnn (2nd R) & Shirley (R) in Provo, Utah, in 2001. Green was sentenced for his conviction on bigamy and criminal non-support.Source:AFP
Makka, a desert valley in western Saudi Arabia and Islam’s holiest city (it’s the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad), has seen a rising surge in divorces.
According to Al Arabiya, statistics from October 2016 show that more half a million men engage in the act of polygamy and have more than one spouse.
730,000 men aged between 25 to 49 were in polygamous relationships at the time of the survey.
16,000 men aged between 60 to 64 were married to at least three women at the one time.
