Sunday, May 15, 2016

Muslims Marry Multiple Times. Bullshit.

I get baffled when some of my friends tell me very emotionally that Muslims marry multiple times and have 3-4 children from each of his wives, for I have only seen and heard Hindu men marrying multiple times and having children from them. Although it does not mean that my friends are wrong, yet it means that they are not entirely right. It is a loaded biased statement to attribute multiple marriages and many kids to a religious community.  

I am a Hindu and I have 12 maternal and paternal uncles / aunties. My wife has 23 uncles and aunties from her Grand Father and his two brothers. Let me tell you that I am not alone in this number game, and neither were our grand parents belonged to the Muslim community. I have also known Hindu men who had two wives. In the generation and times of our Grandfathers, polygamy was more commonly seen and accepted in the Hindu society.

Yes, there may be cases of polygamy in Muslim families as well. But is it fair that we target a religion for polygamy and therefore higher birth rates?

Constitutionally, polygamy was made illegal only around 1956 by Pt. Nehru and Mr. Ambedkar. So social changes take time. Statistically, the birth rate of a Bangladesh Muslim woman is lower than a Hindu woman in India. The difference is starker when that Hindu woman is from Bihar.

So, this population theory accusing the religion of Islam is bullshit. It is seen that societies belonging to the lower socio-economic classification in terms of education and income have higher incidences of polygamy and higher birth rates. Religion has no long term relation to birth rates.

It is a appeal to the general society that lets not get xenophobic and spread untruth about certain communities, and instead spread peace between religions and class, by reading history, social sciences and worldly current affairs.

Humanity is above all. Love is supreme. Peace is paramount.