TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Debate flares up as Aceh plans to regulate polygamy
The Aceh legislature’s plan to pass a bylaw that eases restrictions on polygamy has reignited public debate on the controversial practice
Change Size
T
span>The Aceh legislature’s plan to pass a bylaw that eases restrictions on polygamy has reignited public debate on the controversial practice.
While Muslim women in the country have objected to polygamy since the colonial era, the practice has gained popularity in recent years. Polygamy “classes” have been set up to help men “find four wives quickly”, and even Ayo Poligami (Go Polygamy) — a Tinder-like dating app — has been developed for those interested in polygamous marriages.
Many conservative Muslims believe that Islam permits or even encourages polygamy, while others, particularly women, say that the Quran restricts polygamy and does not allow it to be practiced freely.
The heart of the controversy lies in the Quran’s Surah An-Nisa, verse 3:
“And if you have reason to fear that you might not act equitably toward orphans, then marry from among [other] women such as are lawful to you — [even] two, or three, or four: but if you have reason to fear that you might not be able to treat them with equal fairness, then [only] one — or [from among] those whom you rightfully possess. This will make it more likely that you will not deviate from the right course.”
The debate on polygamy has existed since the first Indonesian Women’s Congress in 1928.
As Susan Blackburn writes in First Indonesian Women’s Congress of 1928, Sitti Moendjijah of Aisyiyah — the women’s branch of Muhammadiyah — delivered a speech that defends Islamic marriage laws, including polygamy.
Moendjijah’s speech reportedly provoked a strong response: while Aisyiyah members applauded her, other delegates and attendees were deeply critical of her views.
Women’s rights activist Sitti Soendari, who had long fought against polygamy, accused Moendjijah of having double standards for men and women.
The debate continued at the second women’s congress in 1935: Blackburn notes in Women and the State in Modern Indonesia that feminist Suwarni Pringgodigdo said she would kill her husband and then kill herself if he ever took another wife.
“Why should one think that a man driven by lust will be cured by being given an opportunity to be polygamous: he would also like to take the wife of someone else, or have sex with a prostitute,” Suwarni wrote in her 1937 essay, “Protection in Marriage”.
Women’s rights leader Rasuna Said of West Sumatra, on the other hand, argued in favor of polygamy, saying that women should be self-sacrificing and allow their husbands to “fulfill their desire” legally.
During Soeharto’s New Order regime, polygamy fell even further out of favor. According to O.G. Roeder’s biography of the former president, Soeharto’s wife Tien was strongly against polygamy. The Soeharto government’s strict family planning policies, which recommended two children per family, also discouraged the practice.
Despite the long-standing opposition to polygamy, the practice seems to be experiencing a resurgence in recent years. The latest statistics from the Religious Affairs Ministry shows a declining trend in recorded polygamous marriages, falling 35.3 percent from 995 in 2012 to 643 in 2016. But the number of unofficial polygamous marriages is estimated to be much higher.
Nur Rofiah, a lecturer of Quranic Studies at the Quranic Studies Institute (PTIQ) in Jakarta, said that the perceived increase in the popularity of polygamy was due to a combination of increasing religious conservatism and the development of social media.
“With social media, things that used to be concealed are out in the open,” she told The Jakarta Post recently. “Today, many people consider polygamy to be an essential part of Islam and use it as part of a dakwah [Islamic preaching] strategy.”
Nur said that polygamy did not originate with Islam, and that the Quran depicted polygamy as a problem rather than a solution.
“Before Islam, polygamy in Arabia was unrestricted,” she said. “The Quran limits it to just four wives.”
She added that the Surah A-Nisa only permitted polygamy if the husband could be fair to all his wives, and that a later verse stated that a husband could never treat multiple wives fairly or equally.
“Prophet Muhammad himself was monogamous for 25 years, and all his other marriages were for specific reasons,” she said.
It is recorded that Muhammad was married to his first wife for 25 years, and then after her death in 619 A.D., he married 10 other women over the next 13 years until his own death in 632 A.D. around the age of 62. It is generally accepted that most of his later wives were widows of fallen soldiers.
Even Yuni Djamaluddin Waly, the first wife of the late, polygamous preacher Arifin Ilham and a conservative Muslim woman who approved of the practice, said that strict conditions applied.
“What is the point of polygamy if it just results in the destruction of a family,” she wrote in an Instagram post last year. “[If the first wife is not ready], be patient and be happy with just one wife.”
