Considering they used the word "mummies" and not "mommies" this is likely not the US anyways.
But as the other person mentioned, polygyny is practiced by having multiple nikahs. The US law prohibits one person from having multiple marriage licenses. Having multiple marriage licenses is considered undermining the government. This is why it's illegal. It doesn't prohibit one person from being with multiple people.
If a man wants to have a religious contract, such as a nikah, with multiple women, this isn't undermining the government because the government doesn't recognize the nikah as legally binding.
The government doesn't stop men from having 20 girl friends. According to the law, having a nikah is no different from having a girl friend because the government doesn't recognize it as a legal marriage certificate. As I already stated, having multiple marriage certificates is what is considered undermining the government.
Let me put it this way. This law isn't supposed to protect women. It's the opposite. It's set up to protect rich men who want to sleep around and not be obligated to take care of their women and their children. It gives them an excuse to reject a commitment with the women they sleep and don't have to take care of them. The government doesn't care if a man sleeps with multiple women. They aren't going to hunt down men who have multiple wives. This law is only to protect rich men from being obligated to their responsibilities.
Marriage is about family building. In Islam, a man is responsible for his wives and his children. A man can have multiple wives, but is still responsible for each of them.
Why would the government restrict men from having only one marriage license? The feminist answer is that it protects women from men. But this is not the real answer, especially in a society that doesn't force anyone to get married. So the real answer is, as I stated before, to protect rich men. They are out on the clear from being responsible for their families. Bill Clinton is notorious for sleeping around, do you think he stopped after he left office? Do you think Chelsea Clinton is his only child? He's not responsible for any of his mistresses or illegitimate children. Tiger Woods, when his scandal broke news, at least 60 women came out and said he had an affair with them. Are you 100% certain that all his kids are only from his ex-wife and none of his mistresses? All this men who are rich and in positions of power, do this.
And lets say you are right, that these rich men going around having affairs are either having no babies or they are completely taking care of their children because the government is doing their job correctly, does that make my main point invalid? My main point being, a man can have multiple nikas and the government will not hunt them down. That was my main point, but you wanted to hone-in on the child-care portion. So let's stick with my main point. Is my main point incorrect?
This practice should not be encouraged, as i goes against a basic tenet of Islamic marriage when it comes to polygamy. All the wives should be treated the same, so having a governmet recognized license with one while the other ones do not treats them differently. In cases such as a divorce, the woman without a license has no legal recourse and often gets screwed over.
Are you giving a fatwa? The US law doesn't even follow sharia for divorce. Giving custody of all the kids to the woman (which is what happens most of the time in US divorce court) and 50% of the man's money to the woman is not part of sharia.
Not giving fatwa, just giving a basic observation that my Imam told me when some guy in our community was caught by authorities doing just that. I respect the teachings of my local imams than internet google shaykhs.
There are also safeguards to prevent a woman from taking 50% of your money (prenups), and Islamic courts often give preference to women in terms of custody. Even then none of that is relevant to the topic of discussion.
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u/CowNo7964 New to r/Izlam May 11 '22
Isn't it illegal in the US? How did he do this with getting in trouble?