NAIROBI, Mar 15, 2010 (IPS) - Margaret Atieno, a 38-year-old mother of six, says she wanted to avoid her last pregnancy. But consistent stock-outs of contraceptive devices at her health care centre in rural Siaya, western Kenya, gave her no choice but to fall pregnant once again, albeit the fact that she did not want another child.

It is very unfortunate that polygamy in Islam has been a subject of controversy. While a group of scholars has, without going into deep study of the divine rules, preached that Islam has permitted to have more than one and upto four wives without reservation, the other group of scholars has, without paying any thought to the reality of life and society, opined that Islam in effect prohibited polygamy. Consequence is that they have made polygamy in Islam a moot question, which it is really not. Most deplorable state is that without any insights into the polygamy in Islam, some people have begun terming the provisions on polygamy as anti-women and biased to men. Hence here is an attempt to clarify the issues.

Why did we make polygamy a solution to the problem of spinsterhood and not the facilitation of marriages of Saudi women to non-Saudi men whether they are Muslim Arabs or non-Arab Muslims? Why is it that some of our men flex their muscles and ask women to accept polygamy and not to object to being a second wife? Why do they enter into doubtful marriage unions of misyar and misfar while turning a blind eye to the marriages that are legitimate and not forbidden by religion?

This post will discuss the season 4 finale of Big Love, HBO’s series following the lives of a polygamous family in Salt Lake City.  Enter the spoiler zone at your own risk…
So, the “will they, won’t they” anticipated reveal at the end of season 4 actually happened.  The Henricksons, all of them, came out of the polygamy closet on a televised press conference.  This, despite Bill and Barb’s disintegrating marriage, and Margene’s search for self that is taking her further away from the family.  All the wives, dressed in red, white, and blue, decided to support Bill and stood with him on the stand.  Obviously, this sets up major drama for next season (which won’t start until January 2011!).

http://www.amsterdamsetrams.nl/mulder/tommulder53.htm

By HERÓN MÁRQUEZ ESTRADA, Star Tribune

The marriage took place during a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park during the summer of 2001.

Before long, James Wallace Fall began alternating nights in the beds of his 49-year-old wife and his new "bride" in Mound.

Fall, now 58, saw nothing wrong with the fact that the bride was his niece or that she was 10 when they "married," according to Mound police.

He told the girl that it was God's will that they marry. He told police this justified their union, legally and morally.

By MATT SEDENSKY

MIAMI —
On his 75th birthday, Bill Farthing decided to be reborn. In the six years since he'd buried his wife of 45 years, he'd felt as he did long before: Lonesome, different, outcast. He wondered if he was going crazy; he contemplated suicide.

Na zijn bekentenis is hij een ontwenningskliniek ingegaan met de vaste belofte dat hij er pas weer uitkomt als hij van zijn drankverslaving af is.

Dezekerweter.com, 15 maart 2010

Ayman Najafi, 24, a British expat in Dubai, and Charlotte Lewis, 25, a tourist, have been accused of breaching strict public decency laws at the fashionable Jumeirah Beach Residence in the Muslim emirate.