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Afghan chief bans polygamy, calling it an ‘unnecessary and expensive affair’!

Delhi, India: According to the Kabul-based Bakhtar News Agency on Saturday, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued an order prohibiting polygamy among Taliban members, calling it ‘unnecessary and costly’. Men are allowed to have up to four wives in the country, which is an ‘Islamic emirate’ administered by Sharia law. In Afghanistan, polygamy is extremely common. The lack of children from their first marriage is thought to be the main reason Afghan men marry many times.

However, Akhundzada has stated that ‘Taliban members should avoid second, third, and fourth weddings’ because they are costly. The Amr-ul-Ma’ruf Ministry (Ministry of Virtue Enforcement and Suppression of Vice) was also ordered to ‘detect violators and report to the leadership,’ according to the decree. According to Bakhtar news, the Taliban leader has issued a decree instructing the Ministry of Amr-ul-Ma’ruf to prohibit superfluous 2nd, 3rd, and 4th weddings.

The Taliban issued a similar proclamation in January 2021, while still in the midst of peace talks with the Afghan government over the country’s future. The leadership was concerned about widespread corruption among members who needed money to pay the bridal price (a dowry paid by the groom to the bride’s family) or to support their numerous houses. The Taliban leadership also feared that lavish wedding rituals would attract criticism from their enemies/opponents as well as from within the organisation.

Polygamy among Taliban commanders is so widespread that even the head of the prisoner commission, Mullah Turabi, had to admonish his people not to take more than one wife. Polygamy is frequent among the Taliban, with the majority of senior members having multiple wives. Mullah Mohammad Omar, the group’s founder, is said to have had at least three wives. One of them was Osama Bin Laden’s daughter, who had negotiated a Taliban-al-Qaeda partnership prior to the 9/11 attacks.

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