Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Maha A. Z. Yamani has written an erudite book titled Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia that offers the theoretical and practical knowledge of Saudi marriage culture by analyzing the application of polygamy and its main contributing factors. The book consists of seven main chapters and aims to develop a combined framework which includes Islamic law and social practice, the influence of Saudi history and the impact of the political system on current local marriage matters in general and polygamy in particular. The goal of the book is to contextualize the legal marriage contracts in Saudi Arabia by emphasizing the increasing number of contemporary polygamous relationships involving one male and two or more females rather than monogamous and traditional marriage styles. As an inside observer, Yamani takes advantage of being of Saudi origin by showing in-depth integration with local members of both gender for individual examples and commentaries that makes the study valuable and unique amongst the polygamy literature. Maha A. Z. Yamani has written an erudite book titled Polygamy and Law in Contemporary Saudi Arabia that offers the theoretical and practical knowledge of Saudi marriage culture by analyzing the application of polygamy and its main contributing factors. The book consists of seven main chapters and aims to develop a combined framework which includes Islamic law and social practice, the influence of Saudi history and the impact of the political system on current local marriage matters in general and polygamy in particular. The goal of the book is to contextualize the legal marriage contracts in Saudi Arabia by emphasizing the increasing number of contemporary polygamous relationships involving one male and two or more females rather than monogamous and traditional marriage styles. As an inside observer, Yamani takes advantage of being of Saudi origin by showing in-depth integration with local members of both gender for individual examples and commentaries that makes the study valuable and unique amongst the polygamy literature.