Re: slavery, polygamy

Salaams folks,

Is there anyone else here who feels like this discussion about slavery and 
polygamy (polygyny, not to be confused w/polyandry) is laden with an 
apologist tenor/tone?

Maybe I don't understand what that means, "apologist", so hopefully someone 
can clarify for me?

I just remember in an Arabic culture class, when the subject came up that 
people really didn't want to touch it. My teacher's assistant didn't even 
accept the assignment I'd written about it (pasted below an early reading 
response on the same issue).

That was a disorienting experience in our academic community considering 
that most other things were on the table if memory serves me plus I had 
personal experience, two moms when I was very young (the laws haven't 
changed . . . I assume folks knew I'd meant with a dad as well, LOL!)

Anywho, if someone can provide clarity on that tone I'm percieveing, I'm 
sure it would be pleasing to Allah.

Mudhillun




Title:  01. Stereotyping of Arabs
Updated:  Sunday, 1/14/2001 6:22 PM
Due:   01/15/2001

REACTION ESSAY (approx. 250 words)

QUESTION: Before consulting the resources offered on this site for week 1, 
picture an Arab today. Try to be unbiased by your own heritage. Think of 
people from different classes, women, men, children, old, young, etc. After 
having done the readings think about what was your most striking 
misconception, or what was most surprising about what you learned from the 
material?

I would say that I don't have a STRIKING misconception! Growing up black in 
America [. . .]

Side Bar: Something that I also found interesting was the judgmental 
references to polgamy. Again, it was portrayed as a taboo practiced only by 
the fringe, the (Western) assumption being that it is inherintly wrong. 
Coming from a home where polygamy was practiced, I take issue with this. I 
thought that America had religious freedoms written into its constitution! 
Now, I understand that even religion can not be a justification for actions 
that cause harm. However, I don't see the harm caused when consenting 
adults form such bonds. I enjoy my family with its ups, downs, and 
complications and I feel that the reaction against many practices are 
merely toward non-western and non-traditional thinking as opposed to real 
threats.




Mudhillun MuQaribu
Arabic 331, MW 3-5
January 22, 2001

Paper #1

Polygamy, Polygyny, Polyandry, Bigamy, Adultery? What do these terms mean? 
Is there are distinctions? What is their status in the United States? The 
answers depend on whom you ask; but they reveal much of our notions of 
marriage within a larger cultural context. Overall, the prevailing United 
States view is biased against groups that even entertain or condone such 
practices.

First of all, we must define marriage. In the United States, marriage is a 
contract between a man and a woman for special kind of social and legal 
dependence for the purpose of founding and maintaining a family. This 
definition has recently come under fire because of its exclusion of 
homosexual forms of relationships but for better or worse, it is what the 
law and religions sanction as worthy of the benefits of the state and by 
extension other entities in our society.

Of the terms, each has a different meaning and while linked by the idea of 
having more than one partner, they have greatly varying shades of meaning. 
First off is Polygamy, which just refers to having more than one mate at 
the same time. It is used as a scientific classification for humans and 
other animals and is neutral in connotation. Related terms include 
Polyandry (where a female has more than one mate at a time) and Polygyny 
(where the male has more than one mate).

The remaining terms, Bigamy and Adultery are legal terms.  They refer to 
relations that transgress the statute of marriage, bigamy being the 
entrance into a marriage contact while still bound in a previous one and 
adultery being sexual relations between two people who are not married to 
each other, one or both being married to others.

The American notion of marriage comes from Christian theological teaching. 
Its sanctity was further codified when Martin Luther split with the 
Catholic Church; but curiously he was amenable to polygyny. Throughout 
history in Western society, polygamy has had an association with the 
practices of “barbarians” and “savages”. It is often regarded as sexist and 
degrading. However, many religions (including some forms of Christianity) 
recognized it as a legitimate social unit. Two examples include Mormonism 
and Islam.

Mormons are a group of Christians that find their grounding in scriptures 
revealed to their leader, Joseph Smith during a period of intense 
revivalism in the US around 1827. Basic tenets of the religion are the 
preexistence of souls waiting to be realized, belief that God evolved from 
man, that human actions determine their future, and that the Trinity are 
distinct beings. Amongst their characteristic practices is polygyny. It 
currently is outlawed but this practice as well as the economic influence 
that the Mormon movement garnered before the turn of the century threatened 
to undue the group as the larger society considered them a threat to norms 
of family. In fact, the federal government and the church outlawed the 
practice before Utah (where the Mormons settled after several persecutions) 
was recognized as a state in 1896.

In their earlier conception of marriage, it was considered lawful for a man 
to marry more than one wife. Some found function in its raising numbers of 
the faithful, others saw it as a way of providing resources that all women 
may fulfill the natural function of motherhood. And some even induced it as 
a way to salvation. When the practice was finally outlawed, not even the 
argument of religious freedom could withstand our stringent concept of 
marriage and by inference, the family.

Islam is the other example where polygyny is practiced. The faith sprang 
from Arabian Desert sands when Muhammad was revealed the Qur’an in around 
622 CE. The five basic ideals are that of professed faith, regular prayer 
and charity, as well as fasting, and pilgrimage. Adherents consider 
Muhammad and the Qur’an as the last of God’s signs and all Muslims to be of 
one community.

In its consideration of polygyny, Islam recognized a traditional practice, 
as well as its benefit amongst widows and orphans in a community and limits 
it to a maximum of four equal co wives. Some people regard it also as a way 
of celebrating marriage and procreation.

There are distinctions between the two; but they are difficult to see when 
one lumps them together right along with forms of breach of contract 
(bigamy and adultery). This grouping is very common. Furthermore, a 
judgment of sexism is supported when the consideration of a woman’s rights 
are not included in defining the different situations. Even today, Mormons, 
Muslims, and other groups associated with polygyny are judged based on this 
characteristic.  In American law, because the definition of marriage is so 
narrow, there’s no different between any of the five terms. And being that 
the legal definition comes from Christian doctrine, its no surprise that 
the law seems biased.