ABSTRACT
Polygamy in Islam is a right reserved to men. Islamic law in this matter remains in force. If a man takes an additional wife, the additional marriage is valid as far as it is so under the shaft a, but he is liable to the secular criminal sanction provided for that offense. In about 30" of the cases of polygamy discovered through the sijills, there is express evidence or a reasonable suspicion that the marriage was contracted in contravention of Israeli law. The decline of polygamy has become a general phenomenon in the Middle East, known also in countries where polygamy is not prohibited by law. On application for confirmation of a marriage concluded without registration and in violation of the ban on polygamy, the qadis would validate the marriage retroactively if it was valid under the religious law and confirm the nasab between the children and the parents.
