Here's one that doesn't fit easy categories. At first it looks like traditional Muslim polygyny. Read on, and it looks something like a consensual, do-it-yourself FMF vee triad among middle-class young folks who have set a conservative nation all a-twitter. But what aren't we seeing? At any rate, not everything fits the boxes.
A Pakistani man's solution to the age-old dilemma of whether to embark on an arranged or a love marriage has captivated the country's media.
Television channels have provided live coverage of Azhar Haidri's decision to marry both women over a 24-hour period.
...Mr Haidri's love for 21-year-old Rumana Aslam - ahead of 28-year-old Humaira Qasim - at one point threatened to split his family apart.
"I gave this offer that I will marry both of them," Mr Haidri, 23, told the Associated Press ahead of his first marriage to Ms Qasim on Sunday in the central Pakistani city of Multan. "Both the girls agreed."
Both women appear to have given their consent to the compromise and say they plan to live as sisters and friends.
"I am happy that we both love the same man," Ms Aslam told AP.
Mr Haidri, a herbal medicine practitioner, counts himself lucky.
"It is also very rare that two women are happily agreeing to marry one man," he said.
The whole article: Pakistan media gripped by man marrying twice in one day (Oct. 18, 2010).
More coverage worldwide, mostly repeating the same story.
Thanks to Michael Rios for the tip.
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Rare...
ReplyDeleteSad.
It's certainly a better outcome than this article, which is one of the most read on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11589398
ReplyDeletePakistan may only be okay with Muslim polygyny, but at least they built consent into their laws, such as the first wife having to approve of a second wife. What strikes me about this story, though, is how important his wives' not just consent, but *happiness* with the situation seems to be to Mr. Haidri. That aspect is certainly anything but traditional.
It might seem like a small difference, but it's these small steps which eventually change whole societies.