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This article uses a 1911 case from Singapore (»the Six Widows’ case«) to discuss the issues arising from the introduction of common law into the Straits Settlements. It examines the reasoning behind the introduction of common law, and how common law dealt with its interface within the Asian context, specifically with regard to Chinese customary law. It discusses what was at stake in this case, alternative approaches, and the debates the case led to regarding Chinese marriages and family law more generally. The addition of a case study on undue influence in the law of contract leads to the conclusion that judicial reasoning, common-law style, is in general adequate to bridge the gap between law and society.

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The creation of Imperial Germany in 1871 sparked a nationwide debate about the nature of marriage and the family. Behind these discussions was a common assumption: families were anchored in monogamous marriage. The assumption was so widely held that it was, with few exceptions, unspoken. It was revealed only in exceptional instances, for example, in confrontation with colonial others, bigamists who were deemed criminals or life reformers living on the fringes of mainstream society. By tapping into a discourse about civilization and human progress, it also linked discussions about the homeland and its overseas Empire. Drawing on a matrix of jurisprudence, social-scientific writings, tracts by social reformers, missionaries and government discussions, this article suggests that Germans embraced monogamy as the tacit rule of marital life within the boundaries of the metropole. Nonetheless, monogamy as a marital standard did not apply consistently within Germany’s overseas colonies. Instead, understandings of racial and religious difference, couched in a specific logic of imperial liberalism, predominated and meant that indigenous people were of ten lef t to continue their own family practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In its African colonies, the German colonial authorities of ten encountered marriages among the colonized population that did not correspond to the European bourgeois ideal of monogamous marriage. Colonial government and Christian missions saw polygamy as an obstacle to their colonial or missionary project. Using files from the German colonial administration in Cameroon, documents from the archive of the Basel Mission, and texts from missionary and colonial magazines, the article examines what precisely the colonial government and missions saw as the dangers of polygamy and what challenges arose in dealing with it. Overall, it is shown how essential monogamy was for the self-definition of the German colonial power. Criticism of polygamy served to distinguish Germany from the colonial other and to devalue its culture. Polygamy was considered non-Christian, non-European, non-civilized. In practice, however, this clarity blurred in the face of diverse challenges, so that missions and the colonial government tended to seek pragmatic and temporary solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In spite of Christianity and western civilisation, polygamy remains a major issue in Christian marriage in Africa. In Nigeria, most of the mainline churches officially adopt monogamy, whilst many of the African Initiated Churches (AICs) practise polygamy. Because Africans consider procreation as the primary purpose of marriage, some childless Nigerian Christians engage in polygamy in order to have children. But apart from the factor of traditional passion for children, some engage in polygamy to have children because they take the phrase ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ in Genesis 1:28 as a divine command to everyone to produce children. Therefore, this article examines the text with a view to ascertain whether it is appropriate to exploit the passage as a basis for the adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility. The target population is those Nigerian Christian men and women who engage in this practice. The article employs descriptive and exegetical methods. It found that, although couched as an imperative, the phrase ‘Be fruitful and multiply’, rather than being a command to procreate, should be simply understood as a saying that God blessed the humankind with offspring, just as he did the fish that are not expected to obey or disobey (Gn 1:22). It therefore does not provide a basis for adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility. The article recommends that apart from assisting childless Nigerian Christians to realise their dream of childbearing, the church should make them understand the biblical position that every individual and couple need not have children. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This research involves the disciplines of the Old Testament and Christian Ethics. It examines Genesis 1:28 with regard to the adoption of polygamy as a solution to infertility amongst Nigerian Christians. The article postulates that the passage is not a command for procreation but is simply a saying that God blessed the humankind with offspring; hence, it does not provide a basis for the adoption of polygamy to solve the problem of infertility.

1 Timothy 3:2 in its traditional reading is one of those Bible texts that have negatively challenged the Igbo style of marriage and family life. This is because the church’s ‘generalisation policy’ on the sacrament of matrimony, which has presented such passages as all inclusive, has left it an out-of-context hermeneutical text both in sermons and catechetical interpretations. Since the church is assumed to be an impartial umpire in cultural matters, then, understanding such passages for an average Igbo Christian would mean to interpret them in their contexts or to interpret them through Igbo lexicology, which is technically called adaptation. But if the biblical writers used the languages and the literary forms of the ancient Mediterranean world, then a re-view of such passages through the Igbo cultural lens is imperative considering that African scholars have become aware that neither the methodology used by the European scholars nor their theological conclusions reached reflected the reality of the African experience and its self-understanding. This paper, with an African contextual hermeneutical view drawn from deconstructionist criticism including textual and form critical methodology, critically examined this situation, and narrowed the study to the sacrament of marriage. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: This study challenges the dogmatic theological position of the church in the sacrament of matrimony. Its potential result will be to emancipate the Igbo-African church from neo-colonialism in which it was enmeshed through dogmatic ambiguities, questioning the western opinion to godly marriage and instead, reinstating the African marriage in its place.

Klasik İslam hukukunda kabul gören dörde kadar kadınla evlenme ruhsatı günümüz İslam aile hukuku kanunlarında yasaklama ile serbest bırakma arasında çeşitli derecelerde sınırlamalara konu olmuştur. Çok eşliliği meşru, adil ve haklı gösteren husus kanunlarda “meşru gerekçe” veya “şer’î fayda” kavramıyla değerlendirilmiş ve genellikle mevcut evlilikle, evliliğin amaçlarını gerçekleştirme imkânı ortadan kalkmışsa ikinci evliliğe izin verilmiştir. İzin için ülkelere göre değişen bazı şartların hâkim tarafından denetlenmesi ve onaylanması gerekir. Birçok ülkede çok eşliliğin, maddi yeterlilik, adaletli olma ve meşru gerekçesi bulunma gibi şartlar açısından hâkim denetimine bağlanması, ayrıca hâkimin izin için mevcut eşin rızasını ve müstakbel eşin, erkeğin evli olduğunu biliyor olmasını araması, ailede huzur ve adaletin sağlanmasını, kadınların ve çocukların haklarının korunmasını amaçlamaktadır.

The analysis of biblical scholars’ teaching on polygamy in The Old Testament leads to the conclusion that it was practiced in the ancient Israel. Experts in this field give two possibilities: either polygamy was a part of the Semitic culture from the dawn of history, or it was later effect of the influences of the culture of neighboring peoples. However, as the author of the article claims, there are irrefutable proofs that polygamy was never tolerated as normal, intended by God form of family life. The main thesis of the article is the conviction that the account of creation from the Book of Genesis substantially influenced the evolution of monogamy in the culture of the ancient Israel. Described relation of the couple of the first people had to be an archetypical form of marriage presented by God and proposed for people as a paradigm of the monogamous marriage. The article shows that it is probable the hypothesis of the biblical scholars expressing the conviction that the process of redaction of the Book of Genesis (finished around 5th century BC) integrated in its content elements of the monogamous tradition that was present in the consciousness of the Israelites from centuries; what is more, it became the paradigm for the marital life for later generations and it helped to get rid of the traces of the polygamous mindset. The article also describes the controversial debate concerning divorce between rabbinical schools of Hillel the Elder and Shammai the Elder; as the Gospel presents Jesus Christ refers to this quoting the passage on creation from the Book of Genesis. Presented in the article selected excerpts from the Church Fathers on monogamy also pointed to the importance of the Genesis account of creation in forming the Christian vison of marriage.

Endülüs’te Moşe Sefardî adında bir Yahudi olarak dünyaya gelen Petrus Alfonsi, 1106 yılında Hıristiyanlığı seçmiştir. Alfonsi, Hıristiyan olduktan sonra Yahudilere karşı Dialogus contra ludaeos adlı bir reddiye kaleme almıştır. O, bu eserinin beşinci bölümünü İslam’a ayırmıştır. Alfonsi, bu bölümde Hz. Muhammed’in hayatı, Kâbe, hac, oruç ve çok eşlilik gibi değişik konulara değinmektedir. Yazılarından Alfonsi’nin, İslam hakkında konuşacak otoriteye sahip olduğunu okuyucularının bilmesini istediği anlaşılmaktadır. Alfonsi’nin İslam ile ilgili verdiği bilgiler, kendisinden önceki Yahudi ve Hıristiyan bilginlerde görülmeyecek kadar detay bilgiler içermektedir. Hem Yahudilik hem de İslam hakkında iyi bir birikime sahip olan Alfonsi, eserinde Yahudiliğin yanı sıra İslam’ı da çürütmeye çalışmakta böylece tek doğru dinin Hıristiyanlık olduğu sonucuna varmaktadır. Bu makalede Yahudi kökenli bir Hıristiyan din bilginin İslam eleştirisinin kökeni incelenecek ve bu vesileyle Türkçe akademik bir çalışmaya konu olmayan bu bilgin, Türkiye’deki akademik çevrelere tanıtılmış olacaktır

The practice of polygyny (polygamy) is attested to in many parts of Africa. One reason among many for consolidating this practice in some African cultures is the emphasis families place on having male progeny. For many polygamous men, it serves as a way-out of childlessness and “sonlessness.†But what becomes of the childless wives in such polygamous marriages? In those patriarchal African societies, where men are at the centre of the stage, the plight of childless or “sonless†wives in a polygamous marriage often goes unnoticed or ignored. By using the childless ordeal of Hannah (1 Sam 1) to mirror the plight of childless women in some polyga­mous African families, this article highlights the silent sufferings of such childless women and makes a clarion call for an informed and just response to their plight. In addition,it calls attention to the “silent†ordeal of Hannah in 1 Sam 1; an aspect of the text that until now has received very little attention.

South Africa has not escaped the rising prevalence and severe impact of HIV/AIDS in relation to women. From an economic and social vantage point, the HIV/AIDS epidemic effects women the hardest, with underprivileged black women the most susceptible to the virus. The theoretical framework of this paper focuses on the intersection between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality and gender violence, and more specifically on certain cultural practices and customs that contribute towards and exacerbate women’s subordination and inequality, which in turn increase women’s exposure to HIV infection. Relevant to this focus is inevitably an analysis of the perceived threats to specific fundamental human rights as a result of some of the entrenched practices that continue to reinforce women’s subordinate position in society, aggravated by the high incidence of gender violence.

On a daily basis people enquire about the dissolution of Islamic marriages, in terms of South African law In South Africa. There exist no legal grounds for obtaining a divorce in a South African court, for persons married in terms of the Islamic law only. The reason for this is due to the fact that Muslim marriages are currently not recognised as valid marriages in terms of South African law. The courts have stated that the non-recognition of Islamic marriages is based on the fact that such marriages are potentially polygamous. In South Africa, marriages may be dissolved by the death of one of the spouses or by divorce. In terms of the Divorce Act, a decree of divorce will be granted by a court of law. Islam grants the husband the right of divorce and also grants the wife the right to request and apply to dissolve the marriage through what is known as Khula, the woman also has the right to a delegated divorce. If the husband dissolves the marriage by divorcing his wife, he cannot retrieve any of the gifts he has given her. Islam further makes provision for the "reasonable maintenance" of divorced women.The non-recognition of Islamic marriages has the effect that a person married in terms of Shari'ah only, has no right to approach a court of law for a decree of divorce and, unless a husband divorces his wife in terms of the Shari'ah, the wife is trapped in a marriage, even if the marriage has broken down irretrievably. Thus a custom in South Africa has developed, whereby Muslim husbands refuse to divorce their wives in terms of Islamic law, so as to punish the wife. The wife in turn cannot make use of the South African judiciary to obtain a divorce, because of the non-recognition of her marriage. This is a burden, which is in direct conflict with Islamic law.In 2000 a Bill was drafted by the South African Law Commission. This act will recognise Islamic family law within a constitutional framework. This article deals with the dilemma that a Muslim woman is faced with in South Africa with regards to divorce.