Paul Goble
Staunton, May 19 – Deaths in Ukraine among Muslim soldiers serving in the Russian army are becoming so numerous that discussions have begun about the possibility of legalizing polygamy in the Russian Federation, with some saying that the Muslim hierarchy is behind this and others the Russian authorities themselves.
Those who say the Muslim hierarchy are behind these discussions argue that many in the Muslim spiritual directorates have long wanted to take this step to regularize and legalize existing situations in the North Caucasus where polygamy remains widespread although from the point of view illegal under Russian law.
Those who say the Russian authorities back the idea suggest that Moscow wants to show to the Muslims from whose community the center is drawing so many soldiers that it is concerned with their welfare and thus generate continuing support for the Russian war effort in Ukraine.
However that may be, it is clearly the case that Putin’s war in Ukraine is the cause with the former viewing it as an opportunity to do something they have long wanted to do and the latter seeing it as a necessary step if the Russian military is going to continue to attract Muslims to military service.
But female Muslim activists oppose the move and Russian legal specialists say that it would be difficult if not impossible to achieve in present-day Russia because it would be impossible to square Muslim law with Russian civil law (daptar.ru/2022/05/19/legalizatsiya-mnogozhenstva-v-rf-na-fone-voynyi-pochemu-sovet-ulemov-snova-vspomnil-o-chetyireh-zhenah/).
That argument, which has been made against efforts to legalize polygamy in Russia for the last three decades, in turn suggests that this entire discussion has little to do with actually moving in that direction but rather is about the efforts of two groups – the Muslim hierarchy and the Russian state -- to win support among Muslim men now facing the risk of death in Ukraine.
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