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| Africa Subsaharan | |
| Nigerian man to divorce 82 wives - but keep four | |
| 2008-09-01 | |
| A Nigerian religious leader with 86 wives has accepted an Islamic decree ordering him to divorce all but four of them, local authorities say. A spokesman for the emir of Bida told the BBC that Mohammadu Bello Abubakar, 84, agreed on Saturday to comply with the decree. Last week one of Nigeria's top Islamic bodies, the Jamatu Nasril Islam, sentenced him to death. The sentence was lifted but he was threatened with eviction from his home. Earlier, Mr Abubakar had challenged Islamic scholars, saying there was no punishment stated in the Koran for having more than four wives. "I have not contravened any established law that would warrant my being banished from the land... There is no law that says one must one must not marry more than four wives," the AFP news agency reported him as saying. "All my wives are with children and some of these are people I have married and stayed with for over 30 years, how can they expect me to leave them within two days," he reportedly told local newspapers.
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| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 If I recall correctly from other versions of this, the man does not actually work, and sends the kids out to bring home the Naira for the family. I think they get some type of government assistance as well. Would definitely explain why the Nigerian government (known for doing nothing) would crack down on this guy. |
| Posted by: sjb 2008-09-01 11:59 |
| #12 Hellfish...true only if you reject the dichotomy of your terms reference. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-09-01 10:54 |
| #11 muslims are embarrassing to the rest of humanity. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2008-09-01 10:30 |
| #10 We must allow American Muslims to live as Muslims, and now some quaint notion of how they should act. Respect is the watchword. :> Indeed. Respect is deh watchword. damnit Muckee don't do that |
| Posted by: .5MT 2008-09-01 10:21 |
| #9 Unlike real Muslims Ahamadiyas teell that there can be other propets after Muhammad. Thatr lmeans neither Muhammad nor his tachings get the untangible , quasi-divine nature they have in Islam (where the Koran is told to be uncreated, so it cannot be changed). In fact the little I know about the teachings of their prophet it seems to be a quite benvolent religion. Significative details is that they use Hindu-like not Arabic-like turbans and, if my memory doesn't fail me they don't use Arabic in their mosques. In other words they don't feel bound to imitate what 7th century Arabs did. The problem with Ahamdiyas is that in order to congraciate with Muslims (and be safer) they tend to align with them in questions like Israel and possibly the WOT. |
| Posted by: JFM 2008-09-01 09:57 |
| #8 If I had to guess... this guy would have been, in that society, a "Chief" which is why he has 86 wives. At some point he or his forebears "Converted to Islam" so they had to come up with an Islamic term for his social position, and picked "Iman." In spite of the fact that stuff inherent to the position (like 80somthing wives) violates Islamic law. |
| Posted by: Phil 2008-09-01 08:54 |
| #7 Why remove the post? You're not in my boat yet. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2008-09-01 08:43 |
| #6 Nah - your point is a good one about a whole lot of Muslims. I'm with you on the need for us to demand that non-Muslims be treated with respect and that Muslims who live here honor our laws, customs and values. Just pointing out a marginal group of people who are doing that. Wish they were more than a tiny percent. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-09-01 08:42 |
| #5 I probably should just STFU. If I could remove the post I would... |
| Posted by: badanov 2008-09-01 08:36 |
| #4 Does indeed badanov. BTW, there are some wonderful Ahmadiyya muslims in NY state raising great kids, integrated into the larger community and just living decent productive lives. Of course the fundamentalist Islamicists don't regard them as truly muslims. |
| Posted by: lotp 2008-09-01 07:43 |
| #3 The former teacher and Islamic preacher lives in Niger State with his wives and at least 170 children. Oh, man the child support must be a nutbuster... Oh wait. Mooselimbs don't support kids. They deal 'em out to be married. Nevermind. |
| Posted by: badanov 2008-09-01 07:40 |
| #2 Respect runs both ways, d00d |
| Posted by: badanov 2008-09-01 07:36 |
| #1 We have to respect freedom of religion. We must allow American Muslims to live as Muslims, and now some quaint notion of how they should act. Respect is the watchword. |
| Posted by: Thrairt tse Tung8134 2008-09-01 07:28 |