Muslim dating site – 800 accept polygamy

Minareten of the mosque at the Islamic Cultural Center in OsloOslo.Minareten of the mosque at the Islamic Cultural Center in Oslo.Photo: Tore Meek / NTB scanpix

Almost 1,700 Norwegian users of a Muslim dating site have checked that they agree or might accept polygamy.

The global dating service muslima.com has been translated into Norwegian, promoting itself as “a specialist in Muslim partner match making and marriage,” writes the newspaper Vårt Land.

In addition to questions about how often one reads the Quran and if you eat halal food, there is also a question about polygamy.

The web-site has more than 15,000 Norwegian profiles, and 778 of them have checked that they are open to polygamy, while 897 have selected the option “may accept polygamy,” the newspaper said.

Polygamy is illegal in Norway, but the law can be circumvented if the man is legally married to one woman, and religiously married with several. In Norway there is no ban on extrajudicial, religious marriages.

– The Quran allows men to have many wives, but the criteria is strict: The spouses shall be treated equally. In practice, many Muslims believe that this arrangement is not possible emotionally, says Ragnhild Johnsrud Zorgati, Associate Professor of Religious History at the University of Oslo.

She points out that it is the literalism Salafi Muslims who advocate polygamy today. According to Zorgati they want to live as the first generations of Muslims did and looking back to what they define as “authentic” Islam.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today