Negotiating polygamy in Indonesia: between Muslim discourse and women’s lived experiences

Deposited with permission of the author. © 2007 Nina Nurmila.This item has been published as " Women, Islam and everyday life: renegotiating polygamy in Indonesia" and is available at http://cat.lib.unimelb.edu.au/record=b3510970.Unlike most of the literature on polygamy, which mainly uses theological and normative approaches, this thesis is a work of social research which explores both Indonesian Muslim discourses on polygamy and women’s lived experiences in polygamous marriages in the post-Soeharto period (after 1998). The thesis discusses the interpretations of the Qur’anic verses which became the root of Muslim controversies over polygamy. Indonesian Muslim interpretations of polygamy can be divided into three groups based on Saeed’s categorisation of the Muslim approaches to the Qur’an (2006b: 3). First, the group he refers to as the ‘Textualists’ believe that polygamy is permitted in Islam, and regard it as a male right. Second, the group he refers to as ‘Semi-textualists’ believe that Islam discourages polygamy and prefers monogamy; therefore, polygamy can only be permitted under certain circumstances such as when a wife is barren, sick and unable to fulfil her duties, including ‘serving’ her husband’s needs. Third, the group he calls ‘Contextualists’ believe that Islam implicitly prohibits polygamy because just treatment of more than one woman, the main requirement for polygamy, is impossible to achieve