The slippery slope

[qatarperegrine]

I was reading The Bookseller of Kabul recently when it suddenly hit me: if Sultan Khan had fled to North America, as he was at one point considering, he would have had to leave his second wife behind.

How weird is that? Expats here in Qatar complain that we have to hide relationships that fall outside of Muslim standards (e.g. same-sex relationships, cohabitation), but if a polygamous Muslim moves to the States he actually has to renounce his legally and religiously sanctioned marriages. We require him to ditch his family. (This applies to refugees as well.)

And, what's more, you can't get a greencard or citizenship if you've practiced polygamy within the past five years. It violates the "good moral character" you must exhibit to qualify.

I sure as heck wouldn't want to be a cowife, and I'm ambivalent about polygamy as a marital option, but I don't really understand how it can be considered so "antithetical to a healthy, stable, traditional family" (to quote my esteemed senator Santorum, in the infamous "man-on-dog" interview) that it must be banished from our borders.

Welcome to the land of the free.....

Comments

[aljefairi.livejournal.com]

the problem always rise when we expose ourselves to different cultures...

i wouldnt say inferior, immoral, savege or gender discirmination .. .but rather a different way of living that is decided and accepted by the society ...

David Haines a social anthorpologist have very good explanations for these things in his book "cultural Anthropology"

:)

[qatar.livejournal.com]

I don't think that polgamy is inferior or savage, either. (It does seem strange to me that the rules are different for men and women, though.)

I haven't read David Haines' book, but the cultural anthropology class I took in college was one of my favorite classes ever. What does Haines say?