Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia (review)

While the practice of polygyny is known to be in decline across the Muslim world due to economic restrictions, the spread of education among men and women, and educated women's ability to provide a husband with compatible companionship, which all put together also resulted in a shift from the extended to the nuclear family structure, a revival of polygyny that began in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s is now spreading to the rest of the Muslim world. It is believed that this return to the old practice of polygyny is being experienced as part of the Islamic revival spreading across the region.

Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia demonstrates that polygyny is widely practiced in the country and its popularity is constantly increasing among both the educated and the non-educated. Yamani demonstrates that among the reasons that contributed to its spread is the increase in wealth on the one hand and a return toward Islamic religious values on the other. She contends that the return to polygyny is simply a legitimate and a more socially accepted way of practicing extra-marital affairs, a habit that never ceased to exist among men who, according to the book's line of argument, seem to be polygynous by nature, and she questions whether the Islamic acceptance of polygynous marriage is a legalization of a human state of affairs.

The research candidly examines the circumstances that drive individuals to polygyny in contemporary times and investigates the emotional, social, and economic consequences that result from engaging in polygynous relationships. In order to achieve this objective, Yamani draws on multiple sources including interviews with men and women from the Hijaz and Nejd regions of Saudi Arabia, and relies on her personal connection with both the location and the topic.

The study proposes to fill an existing gap in the academic literature on the socio-legal evolution of polygyny in Saudi Arabia. For this purpose the book combines a framework that includes Islamic law and social practice, the influence of Saudi history, and the impact of the political system on current local marriage practices including polygyny.

With regard to Saudi history, the author argues that polygyny was not practiced throughout Arabia in pre-Islamic times and that in early Islam there was a preference for monogamous marriage. The tribe of Quraysh, for instance, did not practice polygyny prior to the advent of Islam. The best example is the Prophet's 25-year-long monogamous marriage to Khadija. The author contends that as polygyny was widely practiced among the Jewish community in Medina, the new Muslims adopted the practice after their migration to Medina, and that the Prophet limited the practice to no more than four wives, despite the fact that he himself concurrently married nine wives for political reasons which did not apply to other Muslims. This matter is documented in chapter 4 of the Qur'an (Sura al-Nisa') which deals with women's rights and duties in the Islamic context.

Interpretations of the sources vary, however; likewise, the rules of the practice differ from Sunni to Shi'i sects. The Ithna 'Ashari (Twelver Shi 'ism) sect, for example, allows a man to have an unlimited number of temporary (mut'a) wives in addition to his four wives, a practice that is frowned upon by Sunnis.

The author qualifies the modern controversy over polygyny, which began in the nineteenth century, as being a result of Western influence. While Muslim countries rallied against the practice and advocated reform for women, Saudi Arabia remained the exception, and the debate around polygyny which led to its abolition in some countries and its restriction in others did not reach Saudi Arabia. The author makes no reference to the reasons for this state of affairs, nor does she investigate the historical roots of polygyny in modern Saudi Arabia, such as the influence of the Wahhabi movement. Instead, she refers to contemporary sources which either advocate...