

In Arabic, the term sharīʿah refers to God's ( Arabic: الله Allāh) immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith.

Islamic law or sharia is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition which allows polygyny. In several countries, such as India, the law only recognizes polygamous marriages for the Muslim population. Many Muslim-majority countries and some countries with sizable Muslim minorities accept polygyny to varying extents both legally and culturally. Polygyny, the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time, is by far the most common form of polygamy. Group marriage, where the family unit consists of multiple husbands and multiple wives of legal age.Polyandry, where a woman has multiple simultaneous husbands.Polygyny, where a man has multiple simultaneous wives.2.3.4.1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).Polygamy (taking the form of polygyny) is most common in a region known as the "polygamy belt" in West Africa and Central Africa, with the countries estimated to have the highest polygamy prevalence in the world being Burkina Faso, Mali, Gambia, Niger and Nigeria. Scientific studies classify the human mating system as primarily monogamous, with the cultural practice of polygamy in the minority, based both on surveys of world populations, and on characteristics of human reproductive physiology. įrom a legal point of view, in many countries, although the law only recognises monogamous marriages (a person can only have one spouse, and bigamy is illegal), adultery is not illegal, leading to a situation of de facto polygamy being allowed, although without legal recognition for non-official "spouses". In cultures which practice polygamy, its prevalence among that population often correlates with social class and socioeconomic status. According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook (1998), of 1,231 societies noted, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry – although more recent research suggests that polyandry may occur more commonly than previously thought. In societies which allow or tolerate polygamy, in the vast majority of cases the form accepted is polygyny. Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw polygamy. In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a de facto sense, applied regardless of whether a state recognizes the relationship. In contrast to polygamy, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. Polygamy (from Late Greek πολυγαμία ( polugamía) "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. Illegal consumption (such as prohibition of drugs, alcohol, and smoking).( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Further details may exist on the talk page. Please expand the article to include this information. This article is missing information about polygamy in the Eastern (Orthodox, Coptic, Assyrian) Churches.
