Pro-polygamy cleric in court for ‘insulting women’

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Mazhar Khorasani, a controversial Kurdish cleric who publicly endorses polygamy, stood trial at Erbil Appellate Court on Monday accused of “insulting women” while his supporters protested outside the hearing. 

Women’s rights organizations filed a defamation suit under Iraqi law against Khorasani after he referred to activists who objected to his views on polygamy as “dinosaurs”. 

Polygamy is the religious practice permitted in the Quran that allows men to take multiple wives. 

Khorasani’s supporters held a protest outside the courthouse defending his call for the practice to be reinstated without restrictions under Kurdish law. 

“A string of unjust complaints are being filed against me. Today I very happily appeared before the judge. I put forth and explained what I have been calling for,” Khorasani told reporters outside the courthouse following Monday’s hearing.

“They said I was sued over encouraging polygamy. I am saying it time and again that as a preacher I will proudly support and call for polygamy until I die. I have proudly explained and analyzed to our people the Quran verses and sura.”

“The holy Quran has in the best way offered the solution for social issues, as divorce among married couples is on the rise in Kurdistan.”

“But the plaintiffs derailed the trial, accusing me of insulting women by calling them dinosaurs,” Khorasani added.

It is better to allow men to take many wives as this will stop them committing adultery, he claimed.

“I am thanking all the young people here and Islamic scholars who have come not to support men, but the words of God,” he added.

The Quran’s Sura An-Nisa (The Women) states: “Marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess.” 

Although it is illegal throughout much of the world, polygamy is permitted in many Muslim countries. 

In 2008, the Kurdistan Region parliament amended the Personal Status Law of 1959 making it obligatory for a husband to obtain the consent of his first wife before marrying a second. The Iraqi parliament has not passed a similar amendment.

A growing number of men from the Kurdistan Region have since made secret trips to nearby towns and cities such as Kirkuk, Mosul, and Sheikhan to marry a second, third, or fourth wife under Iraqi jurisdiction.

“As the protectors of women’s right, we have brought Mala Mazhar Khorasani to court over cursing, insulting, and disrespecting women from his TV channel Srusht,” Bahar Munzir, head of campaign organization Stand Against Disrespecting Women, told reporters outside the courthouse. 

The government and parliament share part of the blame for failing to stand up to the “preachers and clerics insulting women”, she said.

“The Erbil court must not take this case as that of a few women and organizations insulted by Mala Mazhar, but the whole women of Kurdistan,” Munzir added.

Choman Hardi, a university professor and revered poet, is among the activists who brought the lawsuit against Khorasani.

“We will not let the conservative and dark seekers insult us,” Hardi said in a Facebook post last week, claiming Khorasani “regularly disrespects us and our organizations.”

Mixed response 

Views on polygamy are mixed in the Kurdistan Region and Khorasani’s trial has reopened the debate.

“We are all Mulla Mazhar to defend the rights and honor of Muslims,” Zuber F Gauhar wrote in a Rudaw Sorani Facebook Live.

Ashti Hossein, who is a woman, also backed the cleric’s call for polygamy.

“I wish you success. They have filed a complaint against you because you are a person who is against women getting themselves naked. I am too supporting you,” she said.

Others rejected the practice.

“Why don’t you leave this nation alone? How many wives do you have? Stop calling for polygamy, no one will listen to you,” said Daiky Mir, another commenter.

“The government must draw a limit to such so-called preachers and mullahs who are the source of social issues,” commenter Ari Azad said.

A Rudaw Sorani Facebook poll answered by 2,400 respondents found 75 percent are in favor of polygamy while 25 percent are against.

Khorasani is notorious for his ultra-conservative and offensive comments about women, which led to a temporary shutdown of his TV channel in June 2019. 

The cleric has repeatedly encouraged men not to marry Kurdish women, who he claims behave like an “Agha” – a tribal chief or master. 

He also said Kurdish women do not know how to serve their husbands.

The trial continues.