Due to the successful passage of a law in November 2008, the lawful practice of

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marriage, marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is ...

in the

autonomous region An autonomous administrative division (also referred to as an autonomous area, entity, unit, region, subdivision, or territory) is a subnational administrative division or internal territory of a sovereign state that has a degree of autonomy� ...

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also inc ...

is almost impossible. When Kurdistan was divided (from 1994 to 2005), polygamy was abolished under areas controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan while legal under regions controlled by the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The severe restrictions on polygamy provoked a fierce outcry within the Islamic community, many of which feel polygamy to be their right as

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

as it is ordained by the

Qur'an The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

. Feminist groups, on the other hand, viewed the legislation as a semi-victory; as they will not stop until they have fully abolished polygamy in the region.

References

Marriage, unions and partnerships in Iraq Women's rights in Iraq Women's rights in Kurdistan

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