[DAWN] AMRA Bone, Britannia's first woman Sharia judge, recently told the Times: "... the British government cannot ask Moslems not to have more than one wife ..."Really? Why not? After all, Moslems in the UK cannot sacrifice animals in ritual slaughter either as this would contravene existing anti-cruelty laws. Similarly, female genital mutilation is banned, although this vile practice is widely carried out in parts of Africa.
So to demand that Moslems curb their libido is hardly unreasonable. Although according to British law, bigamy is punishable with seven years in jail, thousands of Moslems have polygamous marriages that are not registered. According to one estimate, 70-75pc of Moslem weddings are unregistered, with around 20,000 polygamous relationships in the UK.
With an increasing number of Moslems born and brought up in the UK leaning towards a literal, fundamental vision of Islam, many young men are opting for Sharia marriage, bypassing the local registry office. Another reason -- and probably the more practical one -- is that under British law, the assets owned by a married couple are equally divided if they divorce. It is this protection accorded to women that is denied to Moslem divorcees under these informal matrimonial arrangements.
According to the Times, 100,000 Moslem couples are living under such unregistered marriages. And when they are registered, they are often arranged matches in which British Moslem girls are married off to young men from remote areas of Pakistain to secure the latter the right to enter Britannia, and in time, acquire residency and nationality.
The notion that the customs and religious tenets of migrant groups should supersede the laws of the host country runs contrary to the treatment most Moslem countries mete out to non-Moslems. In Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, merely the possession of the Bible can lead to a prison sentence or worse. So for British Moslems to insist on following their religious practices irrespective of the law is a bit hypocritical. The old saw -- when in Rome, do as the Romans do -- is still apt.