Iran’s supreme leader: I’m not in favor of polygamy

Al-Monitor – In a move that has raised eyebrows in some quarters, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been quoted as saying that he does not support polygamy.

The conservative Young Journalists Club (YJC), which is affiliated with the state-run television — whose director in turn is appointed by Khamenei — late on March 26 quoted the supreme leader as saying firmly that he is not in favor of having multiple wives. Based on Sharia, men are allowed to take more than one wife. However, many Shiite scholars in Iran do not speak in favor of this while abstaining from labeling it as forbidden.

YJC did not state the timing and date of Khamenei’s reported remark, but it wrote that his statement was “recent” and in reaction to a fatwa attributed to him that is circulating in cyberspace. The alleged fatwa quoted Khamenei as saying that he views polygamy as “mustahab” in the current situation of Iranian society. Mustahab is an Islamic term that means an action is not only “halal” (permissible) but also recommended, though by no means “wajib” (obligatory).

YJC elaborated, “In a meeting with the presence of the leader, one of the attendees asked him about the authenticity of this fatwa. When Ayatollah Khamenei listened to this [question], he got angry and surprised, and said, ‘I haven’t issued such a fatwa and I don’t accept such thing. Who has said this?’”

Khamenei then reportedly addressed the attendees, saying, “The gentlemen must not talk in favor of polygamy even sarcastically, because it will disappoint women.”

The YCJ report remarkably added that Khamenei has apparently enforced his view about polygamy in his workplace, warning that those working in his office will be dismissed if they marry a second wife.

It has also been reported that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, did not consider polygamy to be appropriate. He, however, recognized it as one of the rulings of Sharia. In one related incident, he is said to have cut ties with one of his lecturers after realizing that he had married a second wife.

In other news, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has denied Saudi claims that Iran was behind the March 25 ballistic missile attacks on Riyadh and other cities by Yemeni group Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis.

Gen. Yadollah Javani, the IRGC deputy for political affairs, said March 27, “Everyone knows that the paths for sending weapons to Yemen have been blocked, and Saudi Arabia has completely surrounded the oppressed nation of Yemen.” He added, “Through these claims, Saudi Arabia’s goal is to divert people’s [minds] from the crimes they are committing in Yemen.”

Speaking of the missiles that Ansar Allah used against Saudi Arabia, Javani said, “Since a nation has faced military aggression, this nation [Yemen] has today [decided] to resist and has taken a path that relies on its youth and their domestic abilities, and based on this, make the aggressor regretful, and Saudi Arabia is very anxious about such a future.”

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Malki has accused Iran of being behind the attacks on Riyadh and has threatened to retaliate against Tehran.