The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective

Islam permits polygamy to preserve women’s dignity and to safeguard the social, moral and economic well-being of wives and their children. Unfortunately, a number of polygamous marriages among Muslims in Malaysia registered at the local ‘Shariah Courts’ are problematic and “misleading” as they do no...

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Main Authors: Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus, Jani, Mohd. Shah
Format: Proceeding Paper
Language:English
English
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/1/Kanita_THE_EFFICENCY_OF_LEGAL_PROVISION_ON_POLYGAMY_IN_MALAYSIA%2C_A_CRITICAL_ANALYSIS_FROM_QUR%E2%80%99ANIC_PERSPECTIVE_1.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/14/Binder1.pdf
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author Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus
Jani, Mohd. Shah
author_facet Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus
Jani, Mohd. Shah
author_sort Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus
building IIUM Repository
collection Online Access
description Islam permits polygamy to preserve women’s dignity and to safeguard the social, moral and economic well-being of wives and their children. Unfortunately, a number of polygamous marriages among Muslims in Malaysia registered at the local ‘Shariah Courts’ are problematic and “misleading” as they do not reflect the teachings of Islam and its Sharīʿah intents on polygamy. As a consequence, polygamy has become a very controversial issue among its critics and supporters. It has invited serious criticisms on the credibility of the legal provision namely Islamic Family Law Act 1984 (IFLA) in curbing the abuse of polygamy. As a short term measure to overcome the problem, it has been suggested that IFLA should be reformed in order to address the current problems faced by Muslims. The IFLA has been amended twice, in 1994 and 2005, and yet the Act has not been gazetted, as some states in Malaysia are not ready to enforce the new enactment due to certain restricting provisions, which according to them are not fully compliant with the true intents of polygamy as stated in the Qurʾān and Sunnah. This paper seeks to examine the efficiency of the current provision, and the compatibility between the law of polygamy in the Islamic Family Law Act 1984 with the revelation of Allah (SWT) in the Qurʾān and Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH. It will focus its analysis on the textual sources (nuṣūṣ) of IFLA provisions on polygamy, as well as the effectiveness and the compatibility of the provisions with the sources. The paper comes with recommendations to improve the current provisions on polygamy so that it may not be abused or misused for objectives contrary to its original Sharīʿah intents. Keywords: Legal Provision, Polygamy, Curbing the Abuse
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institution International Islamic University Malaysia
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language English
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spelling iium-380002021-08-26T07:02:17Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/ The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus Jani, Mohd. Shah K Law (General) Islam permits polygamy to preserve women’s dignity and to safeguard the social, moral and economic well-being of wives and their children. Unfortunately, a number of polygamous marriages among Muslims in Malaysia registered at the local ‘Shariah Courts’ are problematic and “misleading” as they do not reflect the teachings of Islam and its Sharīʿah intents on polygamy. As a consequence, polygamy has become a very controversial issue among its critics and supporters. It has invited serious criticisms on the credibility of the legal provision namely Islamic Family Law Act 1984 (IFLA) in curbing the abuse of polygamy. As a short term measure to overcome the problem, it has been suggested that IFLA should be reformed in order to address the current problems faced by Muslims. The IFLA has been amended twice, in 1994 and 2005, and yet the Act has not been gazetted, as some states in Malaysia are not ready to enforce the new enactment due to certain restricting provisions, which according to them are not fully compliant with the true intents of polygamy as stated in the Qurʾān and Sunnah. This paper seeks to examine the efficiency of the current provision, and the compatibility between the law of polygamy in the Islamic Family Law Act 1984 with the revelation of Allah (SWT) in the Qurʾān and Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH. It will focus its analysis on the textual sources (nuṣūṣ) of IFLA provisions on polygamy, as well as the effectiveness and the compatibility of the provisions with the sources. The paper comes with recommendations to improve the current provisions on polygamy so that it may not be abused or misused for objectives contrary to its original Sharīʿah intents. Keywords: Legal Provision, Polygamy, Curbing the Abuse 2014 Proceeding Paper NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/1/Kanita_THE_EFFICENCY_OF_LEGAL_PROVISION_ON_POLYGAMY_IN_MALAYSIA%2C_A_CRITICAL_ANALYSIS_FROM_QUR%E2%80%99ANIC_PERSPECTIVE_1.pdf application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/14/Binder1.pdf Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus and Jani, Mohd. Shah (2014) The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective. In: KANITA Inaugural Postgraduate International Conference on Gender Studies (KPICGS) 2012, 13th-14th August 2014, Penang. http://kanita.usm.my/index.php/activities/conferences/130-kpicgs2012
spellingShingle K Law (General)
Fatah Yasin, Raudlotul Firdaus
Jani, Mohd. Shah
The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title_full The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title_fullStr The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title_full_unstemmed The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title_short The efficency of legal provision on polygamy in Malaysia: a critical analysis from Qur’anic perspective
title_sort efficency of legal provision on polygamy in malaysia: a critical analysis from qur’anic perspective
topic K Law (General)
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/
http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/1/Kanita_THE_EFFICENCY_OF_LEGAL_PROVISION_ON_POLYGAMY_IN_MALAYSIA%2C_A_CRITICAL_ANALYSIS_FROM_QUR%E2%80%99ANIC_PERSPECTIVE_1.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/38000/14/Binder1.pdf