Category Archives: Polygamy

Summary

The dissolution of Kody Brown's plural family started with Christine Brown's exit during Sister Wives season 17, and now it seems he and Robyn Brown might be headed for divorce. Christine was Kody's third wife for 25 years and left Kody in 2021. Christine's decision reverberated throughout the entire Brown family. In 2022, after 30 years of marriage, Kody's third wife, Janelle Brown, decided to leave Kody too. Finally, Kody's first wife, Meri Brown, was tired of being neglected by Kody and followed suit, leaving the plural marriage. This leaves Robyn, Kody's fourth and newest wife, as his last remaining wife.

Sister Wives season 1 showed Kody courting and marrying Robyn in 2010. She was the first wife to be added to the family in 16 years. Though the complex plural family had their fair share of problems, Kody's marriage to Robyn was what triggered their dissolution. Janelle and Christine felt that Kody was showing favoritism to Robyn. For his part, Kody was open about Robyn being the only woman he loved. He claimed to never have loved any of his other three wives, but there are reasons to believe that his marriage with Robyn is headed for divorce as well.

Robyn has said she wants a plural marriage. She's revealed that a big part of the reason she fell in love with Kody was because of the Brown family dynamic and wanted to be a part of it. Robyn's first marriage was monogamous, and it ended badly in divorce. After several years of being a single mom of three kids, Robyn met Kody and his family. Robyn believes in the principle of plural marriage and doesn't want to be Kody's sole wife. Since Kody doesn't currently have any intention of bringing another wife into the family, it's only a matter of time before Robyn decides their marriage isn't working.

After being polygamous for more than 30 years, Kody became monogamous when three of his four wives walked away from their plural family. He remained married to Robyn and recently said that, due to his failed relationships, Kody's no longer an advocate for polygamy. That being said, Kody will get bored being married to only one woman. He may have entered into polygamy out of religious conviction, but the reason plural marriage worked out for him for so long is because Kody loves attention. Also, after raising 18 kids, Kody's used to having more people around; he will feel stagnant living with one wife and five kids.

When the series Sister Wives first premiered in 2010, Kody was legally married to Meri, his first wife, whom Kody now says he regrets marrying. He was also spiritually married to Janelle and Christine as a part of his polygamist relationship. When Robyn joined the family, she entered into a spiritual marriage with Kody. Kody and Meri were legally married for 14 years before he divorced her in 2014 so he could legally marry Robyn and adopt her three children. Unlike Meri, Janelle, and Christine, if Robyn were to divorce Kody, she'd be entitled to spousal support and child support.

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Sister Wives: Kody & Robyn Brown Will Probably Get A Divorce (Their Problems Are Getting Worse) - Screen Rant

TDs are quite partial to the occasional bit of swapping.

There are big parties and small parties and its been going on since the early 1950s. Deputies meet in secret in special rooms in Government Buildings and Leinster House and occasionally they gather in upmarket hotels around Kildare Street just for the thrill of it.

Some politicians will go off with anyone if they get the right offer. They can sometimes hook up for years, but it always ends in grief.

These relationships never last. They are not durable.

Roderic OGorman, Cabinet Minister and member of the Green Party, knows this because he is currently in a politically polygamist arrangement with a number of like-minded parliamentarians.

Therefore, he was well qualified to speak to the subject when Michael McNamara, the Independent TD for Clare, held forth at some length on the subject of polygamy.

It wasnt a discussion we were expecting to hear late in the afternoon on the Dils first day back since the Christmas recess.

Housing? Yes. Gaza? Of course. Roscrea migrants shambles? Absolutely.

But not polygamy.

And throuples. Thats when most people in offices around Leinster House who had the proceedings on in the background reached for the remote and turned up the volume.

Are we to say that a polygamous marriage is not a durable relationship? wondered Michael during a debate on the referendums and the proposal to amend the Constitutional definition of a family to one founded on marriage or other durable relationships.

People in other cultures have been in polygamous marriages for centuries, he informed Roderic, the Minister for Children, Equality, Integration, Disability and Youth, who is the busiest Minister in the land, despite Heather Humphreys gushing praise for Housing Minister Darragh OBrien earlier on.

Working day and night, she marvelled as Darragh went slightly red and smothered a smirk.

Although she pronounced his surname differently, in the way comedian Dara Briain pronounces his.

The way things are going, maybe the Government could do worse than put a comedian in charge of a housing situation which a lot of people think is a joke.

[Expanded concept of family in Constitution will not cover polygamous relationships]

But back to Roderic, or Poor Roderic as he is increasingly known, such is his workload. He has his hands full with a dangerously simmering immigration issue which runs across many Government departments whose Ministers make fleeting guest appearances while he does all the heavy lifting.

For respite, he was confined to the Dil chamber all day on Wednesday, carefully reading through piles of documents and chewing his ballpoint during Leaders Questions and the Order of Business when Heather, the Minister for Social Protection, stood in for the absent Taoiseach and Tnaiste.

Then he nipped into her seat to take the committee stage debate on framing the terms of the forthcoming referendums.

It was scheduled to run for hours.

As the afternoon unfolded, what we desperately wanted was to hear that famous chant from Monty Pythons The Life of Brian ring out around the chamber.

Welease Wodewick!

Independent TD Michael McNamara riffed on polygamy and how it is probably misunderstood by most people in this country Photograph: Oireachtas TV.

Instead, he had to stay in situ while Michael McNamara riffed on polygamy and how it is probably misunderstood by most people in this country.

To say such unions are not durable would be inaccurate, I think he told Poor Roderic, who is a law lecturer and was well across the detail of the proposed amendments.

Would it be right to rule them out of constitutional consideration?

Polygamous relationships wont be recognised under the proposed changes to the Constitution, confirmed the Minister. They do not represent a moral institution in Irish law.

McNamara was like a dog with a bone. But once upon a time in Irish law homosexuality was not considered a moral institution. Look at it now.

Is polygamy not durable?

Its not recognised under Irish law, explained the Minister. Labour leader Ivana Bacik, a law professor, said its a criminal offence here.

No, said Roderic, it will not be classified as a durable relationship.

Why? persisted Michael.

The Minister started explaining again about the Governments clear policy intention whether its a polygamous relationship or some other arrangement.

Ive heard the word throuples thrown around these sort of relationships.

McNamara did a double take.

What?

Throuples, repeated Roderic.

Truffles? said Michael, who is a barrister.

Throuples.

Three, explained Labours Sen Sherlock, very slowly.

Oh, sorry. Truffles. I thought you said truffles.

No, I did not.

The penny dropped.

I thought you said truffles. I wondered if there were truffles in the restaurant. Sorry.

Deputy McNamaras sudden realisation was reminiscent of the great Mattie McGrath/Adrian Lynch exchange during a committee hearing last year when an RT executive thought Tipperary TD Mattie was asking him who he was lying to, until it dawned on him that Mattie wanted to know who he was loyal to.

And when Lynch then repeated the word loyal, the way McNamara repeated the word truffle on Wednesday.

Are you hungry? asked Ceann Comhairle Sen Fearghal. Its far from truffles he was reared.

Roderic OGorman, of course, is currently in a throuple with Fine Gael and Fianna Fil.

Not to be categorised as a durable relationship either.

At this rate, these referendums, which havent exactly caught the publics imagination yet, might provide some diversion after all.

Link:

Miriam Lord: Polygamy and throuples in the Dil chamber? Doesn't sound like a durable relationship - The Irish Times

The Brown family patriarch tells PEOPLE he's been rebuilding his self-esteem "because it destroys your confidence when you go through a divorce or a family breakup"

Kody Brown is embracing healing after the collapse of his polygamous family unit.

Though the Sister Wives star, who turned 55 on Saturday, tells PEOPLE that he still has good days and bad days and that his last several years have been "sad and challenging" as three of his four marriages ended, he's still looking forward to better times ahead.

It's been a process, he shares. Really I just look forward to a future of a lot of forgiving and a lot of more understanding.

Related: Why Kody Brown Thinks the 'Healing' Between Him and His Exes Is 'Just Beginning Now' (Exclusive)

Ethan Miller/Getty

Kody admits that he's had to rebuild his self-esteem because it destroys your confidence when you go through a divorce or a family breakup.

I feel like my confidence is coming back, he says. I got to find that space of grace and love for myself as well. Be it really forgiving of simple things, like just being angry about what has happened. I want to forgive myself for that and move on.

Related: Kody Brown Views His Tattered Attempt at Polygamy as a 'Shakespearean Love Story'Turned'Tragedy' (Exclusive)

Kody says it's a journey that goes inward and it's a journey that's outward following the end of his spiritual unions with exes Christine, 51; Janelle, 54, and Meri, 53.

You have to express forgiveness to the people you've been involved with, he adds. You have to express understanding and hope that at the end of an era for us as a family, we still have hope of a friendship and a loving or kind relationship with each other in the future because we're bound forever through our kids.

Related: Sister Wives: Kody Commends 'Brave' Christine for Leaving After He Felt Like a 'Prisoner' to Her for Years

Story continues

In November 2021, Christine, left her spiritual marriage to Kody, unknowingly becoming the first domino to fall in what became a 14-month Sister Wives exodus. Then in December 2022, Janelle confirmed that she and Kody had separated as well. And in January 2023, Meri confirmed her split from Kody after 32 years of marriage. Kody remains married to his fourth wife Robyn Brown, 45.

With some distance from the fallout of the splits, Kody tells PEOPLE he's in a place now of just healing in time and getting to a point where you feel forgiveness towards somebody who's just said bad things about you.

He continued, What will move us forward will be the grace, the love and the forgiveness. The same grace and love that we were giving each other 10 years ago as we're going through this very difficult process.

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Kody Brown's 'Confidence Is Coming Back' as He Looks Forward to 'a Lot More Understanding' in Family (Exclusive) - Yahoo Canada Shine On

SISTER Wives star Christine Browns new husband David Woolley's niece and her two children were tragically murdered in Mexico, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.

Christine, 51, andDavid, 60, tied the knot in a wedding specialthat aired earlier this month, giving viewers a glimpse into the Sister Wives star's new family.

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While David's children were part of the bridal party, the construction exec's mother, Evelyn, gave a heartfelt speech at the reception.

At one point, he also mentioned that he had two sisters in Mexico who were in polygamous marriages.

David's seven siblings are Karen, Shanna, Roy, Tamara, Harold, Christine, and Katricia.

Karen, who is now 70 years old, lives in Utah, but once lived in Mexico.

Her daughter, Dawna Ray Langford, along with Dawna's two children, Trevor Harvey Langford and Rogan Jay Langford, tragically died in November 2019.

They were three of the victims of the widely-covered Mexico massacre that left three American mothers and six children dead.

The nine victims were part of a Mormon community living in northern Mexico that were traveling back to the US in three separate SUVs when they were ambushed.

The Mormon group - having dual citizenship - was reportedly headed to a wedding in Chihuahua, about 100 miles south of the Arizona border.

Mexican authorities reported that the family drove into an area where there had been a shootout between rival cartel gangs - who had an ongoing battle over territory - earlier that day and were mistakenly attacked by one of the cartels.

The drug cartel gunmen shot at the vehicles on a highway, murdering the victims on November 4.

Dawna was 43 years old and her two sons, Trevor and Rogan, were 11 and 2, respectively.

Other victims included Rhonita Miller, 30; Christina Langford Johnson, 29; Howard Miller Jr., 12; Krystal Miller, 10; and 8-month-old twins Titus Miller and Tiana Miller.

The U.S. Sun has reached out to David Woolley and TLC for comment.

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David's niece's son, Devin Langford, survived the deadly attack.

He was described as a "hero" after hiding his injured siblings in the bushes and walking 14 miles to seek help.

His sister, Kylie, was shot in the foot and his baby brother, Brixon, was hit in the chest.

Speaking with ABC with his father, David Langford, at the the time, Devin described Dawna as "a nice person" and "brave woman that tried to save her kids."

David shared, "Every one of my children that survived that are living miracles.

"How many bullet holes were fired into that vehicle at that horrific scene and how many children were involved.

"It's amazing... It's beyond amazing that they survived."

Meanwhile, Dawna's mother - also David Woolley's sister - spoke to Reuters about the loss of her daughter, one of her seven children.

Karen said, "I can still hear her talking, saying 'Hi Mom, good morning!' You know? She will truly be missed, missed, missed."

The following month of the attack, the Attorney General's Office of the Republic made an announcement in a press release that stated several individuals connected to the "indescribable violence and homicides" were arrested.

By February 2021, Mexican prosecutors said about 20 suspects were arrested in the case and more warrants remain outstanding.

In September 2023, it was reported that US Marshals Service took a man named Ivan Gustavo Hernandez-Cabral, 24,into custody after the agency acted on a tip.

Hernandez-Cabral was being held pending extradition to Mexico in connection with the ambush, according to CBS News.

The family members of the victims filed a lawsuit accusing the Juarez cartel of carrying out theMexico ambushas retribution for their public criticism and protests against the cartel.

In July 2022, a federal judge from North Dakota ordered that theJuarez cartel must pay $1.5 billionto the victims' families.

It was then reported that the U.S. Magistrate Judge Clare Hochhalters award was automatically tripled under federal Anti-Terrorism Act, increasing the amount to $4.6 billion.

The victims who were killed were members of the LeBaron family, who broke away from The Church of Latter-day Saints decades ago.

There is no indication that David was ever a member of the group.

However, he was formerly married to his late wife before she died in 2012.

The Mormon fundamentalists started to move to Mexico around 1890 primarily over the question of polygamy.

The mainstream church, based in Utah, prohibited plural marriage to comply with US law at the time.

The families that separated from the church continued to practice polygamy after settling in offshoots elsewhere.

According to a scholar of Mormon fundamentalism based in Salt Lake City, polygamy was illegal in Mexico, but there was an understanding that the authorities would "look the other way about their marriage practices."

Dr. Cristina Rosetti told BBC, "The families who went there were not 'fringe families' or 'bad Mormons.'

"These were leaders of the church; they weren't peripheral people. Big names went down there."

The LeBarn group's patriarch, Alma "Dayer" LeBarn, established Colonia LeBarn in Chihuahua in the 1920s.

Christine Brown, for her part, broke away from polygamy in November 2021 after announcing her split from Kody Brown.

The couple separated after 25 years of a spiritual marriage, along with sister wives Janelle and Meri Brown.

Kody remains married to his youngest wife Robyn.

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Sister Wives star Christine Browns new husbands niece and her 2 children tragically murdered in Mex... - The US Sun

Asif M Basit, Ahmadiyya Archive & Research Centre, London

Polygamy remains one of the permissible practices of Islam brought under strict scrutiny by the modern Western world. The primary criticism rests on modern moral standards which again are set by none else but the West.

Before looking at how the provision of polygamy emerged in Islam, it is important to understand the moral standards of pre-Islamic Arabia a melting pot of various religions and their ethics, and also of the absence of both.

Where men would feel free to take as many women as they liked, even without any legal marital contract, Islam emerged with strict rules on marriage and the maximum number of women that could be taken into a legal matrimonial contract at a time.

This is agreed by historians as one of the revolutionary social standards set by Islam in its contemporaneous world.

In a time when peace was only established through military conflicts, scores of female prisoners of war posed another threat to society by being seen as a class that was a free-for-all commodity. Where pre-Islamic society saw illegitimate births and diminished parental responsibility through this class of women, Islam provided a legal framework for men to take ownership of such women by upholding their rights, should a man decide to take one or more of them as concubines.

Hence it can justifiably be said that Islam, through polygamy, imposed restrictions on a primitive society that thrived on free-sex, just as much as the modern Western world does. This leaves one wondering whether modern society is opposed to polygamy as a mode of free-sex, or, on the contrary, a restriction on any such modes.

A society where men and women can cohabit without any legal contract and feel free to have children, and part their ways when they like can only be critical of Islamic polygamy for the reason that it restricts, and not that it allows such freedom.

That Islam takes into account the psyche of men and women in its permissibility of polygamy is another debate which is important to this brief study. The stark difference in the functionality of male and female sex-drives is a factor that cannot be ignored when discussing polygamy in its historical context, just as much as it cannot be ignored with reference to modern society.

Even in early Islam, permission and injunction were always weighed in to maintain the equilibrium of the social structure. Mutah, or temporary marriage, remained permissible in Islam but was forbidden at or around the time of the Battle of Khyber (c. 628CE).

Similarly, polygamy was never seen as an injunction for Muslim men, but more as a permission to facilitate the shunning of moral vices that could potentially develop into social evils. The Holy Quran, when issuing permissibility, clarifies that upholding justice among all wives is paramount, and also that this justice is not an easy goal to achieve.

As mentioned earlier, conflict and war remained a permanent feature of the early days of Islam. While women were not permitted to actively participate in combat, men remained away from home on military expeditions. This meant that they were away from their wives for long periods of time. No other means of satisfying carnal desires were permissible in Islamic teachings other than by way of nikah, or announcement of marital contract, between a man and a woman.

However, in the time of Hazrat Umarra, the Second Caliph of Prophet Muhammadsa, it was felt that married men and women should not be kept apart for longer than four months. Tradition has it Hazrat Umarra, having overheard a sad song of a woman longing for her husband who was at war, did not hesitate to approach his own daughter Hafsah and ask how long a woman could reasonably live without her husband. It was upon her reply that he decreed that men were not to be kept away on the battlefield for longer than four months.

However, marriages of Muslim men, including those of the Prophetsa himself, have remained a favourite area of debate for modern historians of Islam. One of the well-known marriages hugely criticised is that of Khalid ibn al-Walid with the widow of Malik ibn Nuwayrah. He is criticised for having killed ibn Nuwayrah to marry his wife which, Islamically speaking, would be an un-Islamic act. Historical data suggest that this was far from the truth, but, unfortunately, we live in times where scandal is held higher than plain truth.

Western Christendom remains to this day behind many norms of the modern Western world. Despite the population of the modern West steadily turning away from faith and giving up any religious belief systems, certain Christian phenomena still dictate its social dynamics. Festivity remains rooted in Christian concepts of Christmas, Easter, Harvest and Thanksgiving etc.

The Wests strict aversion towards polygamy can also be traced back to the Western Christendom while arguments given against it are those given in favour of a free society where no form of legal contract is required for a man and woman to cohabit. Western legal systems, inspired by Christian ideals, have seen polygamy as a crime on the grounds that it fosters inequity, confuses children, and jeopardizes marital consent. (John Witte Jr, The Western Case for Monogamy over Polygamy, Cambridge University Press, NY and Cambridge, 2015)

The fact that the same does not apply to cohabiting, where couples live together without any marital contract, having children out of wedlock, and the confusion of the latter over parental ownership is a clear indication that the West has got it all wrong in understanding the concept of Islamic polygamy.

John Witte Jr, in his detailed work The Western Case for Monogamy over Polygamy, highlights how the balance in the West is tilting more towards polygamy. He believes that polygamy will come to dominate public deliberation and litigation in many Western countries in the near future. (Ibid)

Gallup survey shows that in America alone, the tide seems to be turning where the moral acceptability of polygamy is witnessing a constant uptick. From 7% in 2004, the trajectory of moral acceptability has gone up to 20% in 2020, and is still creeping upwards.

Speaking of America, we take the case of Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib, the first Muslim missionary to arrive in modern America in 1920.

As soon as Mufti Sadiq Sahib set foot on American soil, he was detained by immigration authorities on account of being a Muslim who would preach polygamy. He had to assure the authorities that polygamy was an option in Islam and not an obligation. He also wrote to newspapers to have his voice heard, one of which was the Evening Public Ledger:

I am detained because I must show my authority as an Ahmadi preacher [] and because I come from a country and nation which allows polygamy. I am going to appeal. I am not a polygamist myself, having only one wife, who is in India with our four children [] (Evening Public Ledger, Philadelphia, 20 February 1920)

This one wife of his was Imam Bibi whom he had married in India, as we understand from his various biographical accounts.(Zikr-i-Habib [an autobiographical account], Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, p. 173)

The Ipswich Star, on 19 November 2023, has published an account by some newfound grandchildren of Mufti Sadiq with evidence that he married their grandmother, Ethel Maud Bassett, during his stay in England (1917 January 1920). He also fathered her child, Frederick A Bassett, who was born in May 1920 about five months after his departure from England to America.

The family, in their quest for their grandfather, have collected a number of documents to piece the jigsaw together. Many pieces, however, remain missing. Also in their possession are a number of letters written by Mufti Sadiq to his son Frederick whom he addresses with the Muslim name Farid where he fondly advises his long-lost son about good and bad, dos and donts of life.

In February 1947, Mufti Sadiq sent his dear son Farid a book that he had recently authored, titled Lataif-i-Sadiq (anecdotes of Sadiq). He also advises him that being in the Urdu language, he might not be able to read it. However, we know from other father-to-son letters that Mufti Sadiq advised his son to visit the Fazl Mosque in London and meet with the missionary Mushtaq Bajwa Sahib; we know from the letters that he did. So, Frederick could have had the book read if he chose to do so.

Frederick might not have known Urdu, but the author can confirm that this autobiographical account of Mufti Sadiq carries no mention of Fredericks mother, Ethel.

This, combined with his statement that he only had one wife who was in India, suggests that the marriage between Ethel Bassett and Mufti Sadiq might have only been a very short episode.

Since some demand legal registry documents to prove marriage, it must be clarified that the only requirement of marriage in Islam is nikah a public announcement before two witnesses that a man and woman have agreed to live together as husband and wife, under a matrimonial contract.

The same applies to divorce in both Islamic modes talaq where a husband divorces the wife, or khula where a wife divorces the husband. It has to be publicly announced that the two are breaking the wedlock and will no longer be living together as man and wife.

There are, however, legal requirements that ensue a divorce where the husband is required the dowry in the case of talaq or that the woman cannot be divorced if pregnant at the time.

Frederick was born on 20 May 1920 which is exactly five months after Mufti Sadiqs departure for America (January 1920). This means that Ethel must have been four-months-pregnant at the time of his departure.

Mufti Sadiqs statement to the authorities and open letters to the American press suggest that he was not in nikah with Ethel, nor was he aware that she was pregnant with his child. But since the pregnancy must have happened while they were Islamically in nikah, it means that the divorce must have happened in the preceding four months, but right at the very onset of the pregnancy when both were unaware that she had conceived.

Another hypothesis suggests that if they were aware of the pregnancy, Ethel must have exercised her Islamic right to divorce by way of khula.

Whatever the case, Mufti Sadiqs statement makes it clear that he was only married to Imam Bibi at the time of his arrival at the American port. Had he arrived in America with the intention to marry American women, he had no reason to plainly declare his marriage in India, especially at a time when there were no means for facts to be verified by American authorities.

The only assurance that the American authorities required was that Mufti Sadiq would not preach or practice polygamy while in America. Whether he was polygamous already or not was not the question.

Moreover, had he intended to be polygamous in America, marriage to Ethel would have been a perfect precedent to present to American immigration control more so with a child on the way.

Also suggesting that the marriage with Ethel had ended in divorce is the birth registration of Frederick where he is listed with the surname Bassett. In his baptism certificate, in the column asking for parents name, the only name given is Ethel Maud Bassett.

Had the marriage been still on, there was no reason for Ethel not to give Mufti Sadiqs name as the father of the child. Even in the case of a divorce, there was no apparent reason to conceal the fathers name.

In light of what we know so far, Ethel abandoned Frederick by sending him to an orphanage-style care system of Barnardos, which is evident from the documents in possession of Fredericks children and published by Ipswich Star.

But this happened later on. From the time of his birth, Frederick was deprived of his true identity by concealing his fathers name. He was baptised, despite the fact that Ethel Bassett had converted to Islam, confirmed by Mufti Sadiqs report published in the Al Fazl Qadian, on 10 June 1919, where it said:

Two respectable ladies, by the names of Ms Bassett and Mrs Sals have accepted Islam at the hand of Hazrat Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib, missionary of Islam. Their Muslim names are Majidan and Fatimah. Praise be to Allah.

The Review of Religions, in its issue of May, June, July 1919 published the same in English:

Five English Ladies and Gentlemen joined the fold of Islam in the month of May. Their names are Miss E Maud Besset [sic.], Mrs Alice Sals, Mrs Gurr, Miss Bysouth, and Mr Scott.

They have been respectively given the Muslim names of Majidan, Alia, Amina, Mariam and Abraham, and their applications for initiation into the Ahmadia Movement have been forwarded to His Hazrat Khalifat-ul-Masih.

The above report, published in the Al Fazl of 10 June 1919, is dated 7 May 1919. We can safely assume that Ethel converted to Islam sometime in early May. The marriage must have happened in the Summer of 1919 before she conceived Frederick around September (counting back from his birth in May 1920).

It is around the same time that marriage seems to have fallen apart. No one can say for sure, but the little amount of evidence that we have supports the assumption that Ethel abandoned Islam and her husband who was also the father of her unborn child. The evidence the author uses here is the baptism certificate of Frederick A Bassett (baptism dated 24 August 1920).

Had Ethel remained a Muslim, Baptism would have not been anywhere in the equation. The same applies to the name Frederick which is very much a Christian name and not a Muslim one.

That Mufti Sadiq later made effort to establish contact with his son Frederick, fondly addressing him as Farid, shows that he did not abandon his child. The mother of the child seems to have kept him from making any contact with the father.

While there is no registry document to prove the legal marriage of Mufti Sadiq and Ethel Maud Bassett, there is sufficient evidence to believe that Islamic marriage did take place. The letters written to Frederick by Mufti Sadiq advise him to visit the Fazl Mosque in Southfields, London, and stay in contact with the missionary there. Letters suggested that he visited the mosque and remained in touch with the mosque before losing contact.

Had there been no nikah and the child was born out of wedlock, Mufti Sadiq would never have made any effort to, firstly, find this child of his and, secondly, to get him in touch with the mosque where everyone knew Mufti Sadiq as their pioneering missionary and held him in very high esteem.

The story of Mufti Sadiq and his son Frederick is a sad one. It hurts to see that ever since the publication of the article in Ipswich Star, some Social Media users have been using foul language about this child, his mother and his father.

They lived in a time when life was much different than as know it today. Ethel was not a bad lady. Mufti Sadiqs report published in the aforementioned issue of The Review of Religions mentions her as someone who was helping Mufti Sadiq in his missionary activity. He writes:

I am still suffering from granular eyelids which has rendered me unable to do any reading or writing work. Some English Muslim friends (such as Mrs Jameela Shah, Mrs Abasi and Miss Besset [sic.] and Abdul Rahim Alabi Smith, a young Nigerian Ahmadi, have been of great help in disposing of my correspondence. May God be their reward. (The Review of Religions, May, June, July 1919, p. 229)

We can only wonder what might have led Ethel (or Majidan) away from Islam. Those were very challenging times for Muslims living in the West. In the book that Mufti Sadiq sent to his son in London, he narrates a very interesting anecdote:

A tough situation arose for Mufti Sahib in America, but God saved him miraculously. Mufti Saheb had been preaching Islam to a young American girl who was almost ready to accept the message. Her mother was a bigoted and stubborn woman who tried to stop her daughter from converting to Islam through every possible effort. Having failed, she filed a false lawsuit against Mufti Sahib, accusing him of being part of a dangerous mission where girls are abducted and then married off to Muslim men; and that the same was happening to her daughter.

The lawsuit was horrific but was dismissed in its very early stages, hence relieving Mufti Sahib of a burdensome worry. (Lataif-i Sadiq (being the autobiography of Mufti Sadiq Sahib), ed. Sheikh Muhammad Ismael Panipati, published by Tajir Kutab Qadian, 1946)

Such were the times when being Muslim was a thorn in the Wests eye. The resilience of Muslim missionaries becomes even more commendable in such circumstances.

Their families shared the burden of their sacrifice and must have received their share in the rewards from God Almighty.

Note from author: The above is based on the data and information so far available. As more comes to light, further reseach will be carried out and presented.

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Polygamy: The case of Mufti Muhammad Sadiq Sahib - The Weekly Al Hakam

By Michael Brown, CP Op-Ed Contributor Saturday, December 02, 2023 Getty Images

For decades, conservative Christians have been warning about our nations slide down the proverbial slippery slope, only to be rebuffed for crying wolf. There is no slippery slope! we have been told repeatedly.

Thats why, for quite a few years now, I have documented just how real (and slippery!) that slope is.

For example, in my February 2020 article titled, As We Mindlessly Careen Our Way Down the Slippery Slope, I wrote:

Is anyone surprised that HGTV recently featured its first throuple, in this case, a man and two women? But what else should we expect? This is the inevitable direction of our societys slippery slide down. The avalanche goes downward, not upward.

I noted that, The episode was titled, Threes Not a Crowd in Colorado Springs. And it featured one line in which one of the two women, named Lori, commented, This is a couples kitchen, not a throuples kitchen.

And so, I continued, Polyamory is now as American as apple pie.

Of course, for years we were mocked for predicting this very thing.

For years we were vilified for saying that the redefining of marriage to include homosexual unions would soon lead to more radical redefinitions.

For years we were criticized for pointing to the presence of polyamorous groups marching in gay pride events. Were next, they confidently proclaimed.

Now throuples are being mainstreamed too. But why not?

This is one of many examples I could cite from my own writings, let alone from the writings and talks of others. The examples really are legion.

What prompts me to write yet another article on the subject (which, if desired, I could do virtually every week of the year) is something I spotted while annotating a forthcoming book, further confirming my suspicions.

In my 2015 book Outlasting the Gay Revolution, I noted that, Recent polls have even revealed that, little by little, the stigma associated with polygamy is decreasing in America, primarily due to media influence.

Specifically, I pointed to a 2014 Gallup report that indicated, Americans views on the morality of many of these issues have undergone significant changes over time. For example, acceptance of gay and lesbian relations has swelled from 38% in 2002 to majority support since 2010. Fifty-three percent of Americans in 2001 and 2002 said sex between an unmarried man and woman was morally acceptable, but this year it is among the most widely accepted issues, at 66%. Similarly, fewer than half of Americans in 2002 considered having a baby outside of wedlock morally acceptable, but in the past two years, acceptance has been at or near 60%.

As for acceptance of polygamy, the study reported that, Five percent of Americans viewed polygamy as morally acceptable in 2006, but that is now [meaning in 2014] at 14%.

So, in just 8 years, acceptance of polygamy almost tripled, most obviously because of TV shows like Big Love and My Five Wives, leading millions of Americans to say, So, whats so bad about polygamy?

What struck me this week was a Gallup report from 2020 indicating that acceptance of polygamy had reached 20% meaning, one in 5 Americans. Back in 2006, that number was one in 20 Americans. Thats quite a jump!

Commenting on this on the Gallup website, Frank Newport wrote in June 2020, what fascinates me as much as anything else is the trend on polygamy. When Gallup first included polygamy on the list in 2003, 7% of Americans said it was morally acceptable, and that fell to 5% in 2006. But over the past decade, this percentage has gradually increased moving into double digits in 2011, reaching 16% in 2015, and this year, at 20%, the highest in our history. In short, there has been a fourfold increase in the American public's acceptance of polygamy in about a decade and a half.

As of 2022 and 2023, the number had risen even further, to 23%, meaning almost one in four Americans felt that polygamy was morally acceptable. But there is no slippery slope. Of course!

I could cite many more examples, but at this point: 1. It would be redundant. 2. It would make this article into a small book. 3. You dont need me to cite polls and statistics; all you need to see is the societal embrace of Drag Queens reading to toddlers. That alone proves the point.

The good news is that, as many of us also predicted, the radical left has overplayed its hand and a moral, cultural pushback is at hand.

The bad news is that its a lot harder to climb up a mountain than to slide down it.

On the other hand, with Gods help, all things are possible.

Dr. Michael Brown(www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicatedLine of Fireradio program. His latest book isWhy So Many Christians Have Left the Faith.Connect with him onFacebook,Twitter, orYouTube.

Join thousands of others to get the FREEDOM POST newsletter for free, sent twice a week from The Christian Post.

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The acceptance of polygamy and the slippery slope - The Christian Post

Summary

Many Sister Wives viewers have speculated about why Kody Brown and Robyn Browns relationship might fail without Janelle, Meri, and Christine Brown. The Brown family has undergone a major shift over the last three years. In early 2021, Christine packed her bags and divorced Kody because of a lack of respect and love. She moved on to find her soulmate, David Woolley, and married him in 2023. Similarly, Meri and Janelle realized their self-worth during Sister Wives season 18. The two ladies also left the Brown family patriarch, leaving him to be monogamous with his fourth wife, Robyn.

Recently, Redditor HedgehogSammich speculated about why Kody and Robyns one-on-one marriage wont work after being in a polygamous relationship. Other Redditors theorized many reasons and concluded that Robyn and Kodys marriage won't work because their dynamic had shifted.

Since Meri, Christine, and Janelle arent in the Brown family, Kody and Robyn have nothing to discuss anymore. They cant gossip, discuss, and banter about the other women because they arent in their lives. Moreover, the exit of Kodys former wives means Robyn isnt his favorite. Shes his only wife and isnt special like before. Also, as one Redditor put it, "Without any other wives around Kody is now her sole problem. She can't foist him off or their problems off on someone else now."

Kody and Robyn had a special relationship at the start. They fell in love in 2010 and tied the knot to expand their polygamous household. At the time, Robyn assumed the role of the youngest wife in the family, as Meri, Janelle, and Christine were all in their 40's. Kody enjoyed spending time with Robyn because he loved her traditional approach and craved her youthful aura. He had two kids with her and legally adopted her other two kids, Breanna Brown and Aurora Brown, from a previous relationship.

Fans have probably hit the bullseye about the potential future of Kody and Robyn. Sister Wives premiered over 13 years ago. At the time, Kody and Robyn tied the knot and built the framework of their marriage around polygamy. The two have never experienced each other out of that bubble. Theyve always been busy with the family drama and their TV show. Now Kody and Robyn will have to face their real selves. They no longer have Meri, Christine, and Janelle to worry about. They'll have to experience each other like normal couples, which may or may not end well.

Still, there is some hope for Kody and Robyns marriage. Theres a chance that they can pull off a monogamous relationship without any problems. Kody and Robyn have lived in a polygamous family for 13 years. However, Meri, Janelle, and Christine have revealed that Robyn is Kodys soulmate. If thats the case, the Brown family patriarch and his fourth wife have nothing to fear. Theyve lived like a monogamous couple, even in a plural marriage. Therefore, Kodys divorces from the other sister wives technically dont change anything.

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.

Source: HedgehogSammich/Reddit

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Sister Wives Fan Theory Proves Why Robyn & Kody's Marriage Doesn't Work Without His Exes - Screen Rant

Summary

Kody Brown and Robyn Brown's romantic connection led to the downfall of the famous plural family and, in turn, of Sister Wives. Kodys polygamist family started with him marrying Meri Brown in 1990 and then starting a spiritual union with Janelle Brown three years later. In 1994, Christine Brown entered the family, and everyone lived together with their 13 kids until Robyn entered the picture with her three kids. The duo courted throughout season 1, and Kody legally married Robyn by divorcing Meri in 2014 to adopt her children.

Christine didnt exactly approve of Kodys union. Robyn and Kodys close relationship is one of the main reasons Christine decided to part ways with Kody. Robyn tried to talk with Janelle and Meri about how they would slowly disappear as a family, but Janelle walked out of the conversation and Kody's marriage. Robyn didnt like being punished and blamed by people saying she was Kodys favorite spouse. Meanwhile, Meri confirmed her split with Kody in a joint statement, leaving him and Robyn monogamous.

Kody opened up about his relationship with his first three wives, Meri, Janelle, and Christine, during the Sister Wives: One-on-One special. He revealed there was no love lost between them because he never had real feelings for them. Kody explained that the experience required him to have more than one wife. So, when Kody got into polygamy, he got married three times, blindly. He claimed he was so anxious to be living by the principle of plural marriage that he wasnt vetting who he was marrying. He didnt check his compatibility with any of his former wives, taking all the blame for the breakups.

Now, Kody believes that if one is to marry, they should be married for eternity (as shared by E! News.) He told Sister Wives Tell All host Sukanya Krishnan, You should start out in love, boldly. Kody thought it was acceptable for him to be able to make up the difference in the case of all three wives. Kody noted that the gospel talks about loving each other, but he never suffered in a fit of passion in his relationships. Kody claims he had blinders on when going into his first three marriages.

Kody said that things were different with Robyn because he fell in love with her. Kody claimed he was choosing to be in a Covenant of Love with Meri, Janelle, and Christine. According to Kody, meeting Robyn gave him the kind of safety and vulnerability he had never experienced in his life. He wept with joy upon meeting her and didnt stop for months. Kody expressed hurt at watching Christine and Janelle trash talking about him for two years on Sister Wives. He deciphered that they were talking poorly about him because he was guilty of not being in love.

Kody admitted that he did feel guilty because he wasn't in love with them. He believed they wanted to make him feel small, so they could feel okay while criticizing him on TV. Kody said that even though he wasnt in love, he was loving toward them. Sometimes, he would also feel like he was in love because of the games he played, claiming this was him making an effort. Kody doesnt find himself accountable for the emotion of not being there all the time. Meanwhile, Robyn said she did not know Kody only had feelings for her until recently.

Robyn wondered if history was being rewritten when Kody confessed his love for her alone. She said she tried her best to not let her fellow Sister Wives go through something that was painful for them, even though Kody expressed his true love for her. Christine recalled the moment she realized Kody was only in love with Robyn was one of her first moments of heartbreak. She was sitting at the edge of her bed and watching a really giddy Kody getting ready to go on a date with Robyn. She realized it was at that point that everything was going to change.

Janelle believes she loved Kody as much as she could. According to her, they were much more in love as the years went by. She didnt think getting married young was an issue, but Janelle believes they failed to navigate through their relationship as they grew older. To Janelle, it was a very functional marriage. She does think that as both of them changed and Kody grew a stronger connection with Robyn. She finds it unfair to judge their growing years from that perspective because she knows Kody wasnt the same person back then.

At the same time, Christine thinks Kody feels betrayed by her friendship with Janelle after she left him. She wants him to know what jealousy looks like. He wishes for him to see how hard it is when two people have a bond. Janelle and I have an awesome bond and maybe hes jealous about that bond, Christine said. He thinks Kody is jealous that they co-parented. This change in dynamic sucks for Kody because now, he can finally see what being a sister wife is like. She knows that Janelle picked her over Kody because she can talk to her and knows that Christine will work things out with her.

Janelle and Christine have had their share of fights and disagreements, but in the end, they manage to work them out. This is what its been like for 26 years. Take off your blinders and look and see what its like for us, was Christines message to Kody.

Sister Wives star Meri is happy that Kody has found happiness with Robyn. I think everybody should have that, she added. While Meri says Kody has a soul connection with Robyn, she thinks he shouldnt have prioritized that bond and put it ahead of the entire family. She knows that hes happy with her, and he speaks about it quite often. Meri thinks it was unfortunate that the whole family had to go by the wayside to know Robyn was Kodys favorite. She thinks Kody was capable of showing love and care for many people because of his large family, but he wasnt doing it for reasons only known to him.

Sister Wives airs Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.

Source: E! News/YouTube

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Sister Wives: How Kody Brown & Robyn's Relationship Led To The Family's Downfall - Screen Rant

COMMENT |There are so many terms when it comes to polygamy such as - polyamory, ethical non-monogamy and whatever trendy words there are now.

However, for me, there needs to be a condition whereby all parties involved need to be on board with what is going on. Basically, to establish honesty between all parties.

Recently, the issue of polygamy suddenly came into the spotlight after a PAS MP suggested in Parliament that the government needs to provide moral support for men who are capable of entering polygamy.

As reported in the news, he goes on to say that this could be a solution for the millions of women above the age of 30 who still arent married. He was even quoted as saying, Imagine. 4.8 million women are still unmarried.

The problem for me isnt polygamy. The problem is more of the fact that Muslim men in Malaysia tend to see polygamy as a right that they have solely and that nobody can question it...

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COMMENT | Why is it so hard to stamp out misogyny and sexism? - Malaysiakini

Thus, a theological discernment on the issue of polygamy entails reflections on a practice that is grouped among sins that are gravely opposed to the Sacrament of Matrimony, alongside adultery and divorce.

A pastoral discernment: A call to conversion

The Synod delegates call on members of SECAM to discern the issue of polygamy from both theological and pastoral perspectives was made under the topic, For a Church that listens and accompanies. A pastoral discernment is likely to entail the listening to and accompaniment of persons in polygamous unions.

In an October 28 interview with the National Catholic Register (the Register), ACI Africas partner agency, Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Bamenda Archdiocese in Cameroon acknowledged with appreciation the fact that during the October 4-29 sessions in Rome, the views of African delegates on the institution of marriage and the family were heeded.

The Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop, who is one of the 16 Prelates making up the Synods Ordinary Council that oversees the running of the process, said that African delegates were very strong about the fact that in Africa, we understand marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and anything short of that is witchcraft.

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This is something we said very strongly. We cannot be talking about sensitivities and orientations within the Church setting when this is what the Gospel says. This is what the teaching of the Church has said all along and this is what various cultures believe, he said, underscoring African delegates stance on the teaching of the Church on the human person, and human sexuality during the Synod sessions.

Asked to weigh in on the Synod Relator General, Jean-Claude Cardinal Hollerichs remarks about an openness for change in the Church at the Synod, Archbishop Nkea highlighted what is likely to entail the pastoral discernment on the issue of polygamy.

We are open to many things. From Africa, we argued about polygamy not because we want polygamy legalized, but because we want accompaniment. Now, we in Africa are given the chance to set up theological commissions, to study polygamy and get pastoral directives that would adapt to that situation in Africa. This is a big opening, he said during the October 28 interview in Rome.

The 58-year-old Archbishop who started his Episcopal Ministry in August 2013 as Coadjutor Bishop of Cameroons Mamfe Diocese explained in reference to openness for change in the Churchs teaching on controversial issues, including polygamy, Although there are some accidentals that will definitely change, the essence will not change. To start a conversation with polygamists, we had to insert the word conversion . Conversion to the values of the Gospel.

He further explained, Whether were talking to 'LGBT' people or were talking to polygamists or were talking about ourselves, there must always be the call to conversion, conversion to the Gospel. What are the Gospel values? Entering into dialogue with all of these people is always in view of conversion. If we take that out, then we stop being evangelical; we are no longer backed by the Gospel.

The call to conversion is a call to have persons in polygamous unions understand the value of fidelity in marriage, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses of Gods faithful love, according to CCC 1648.

Meanwhile, the Synod delegates call on SECAM members to foster the accompaniment of people in polygamous unions coming to faith is likely to entail, among other fruits of the theological and pastoral discernment, conforming to the directives in CCC regarding Christians, who cannot receive Eucharistic communion cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities (CCC 1650).

If these Catholics keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons, according to CCC 1651.

Awaiting further theological and pastoral discernment on the issue of polygamy, Catholics who have contravened the Sacrament of Matrimony are encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace (CCC 1651).

Fr. Don Bosco Onyalla is ACI Africas founding Editor-in-Chief. He was formed in the Congregation of the Holy Ghost Fathers (Spiritans), and later incardinated in Rumbek Diocese, South Sudan. He has a PhD in Media Studies from Daystar University in Kenya, and a Masters degree in Organizational Communication from Marist College, New York, USA.

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What Entails the Call to theological and pastoral discernment on the ... - ACI Africa