Cash for Harems – The Benefit of Muslim Polygamy
THE Mail has a story its editors must have dreamed about – “Polygamous husbands can claim cash for extra wives.”
This means wives – of which the Mail tells us a Muslim man can have four – can claim benefit as dependents. Good news. All is fair in this tolerant nation.
But this is the voice of Middle England. This is Islam and perceived benefit injustice in one story. Great days at the Mail.
And the story is illustrated by this picture from the Carry On film Follow that Camel.
Yes, that’s right – it’s Cash For Harems!
Now look out for thousands of unmarried mums and dads take up the veil.
The story goes like this:
“Polygamous husbands settling in Britain with multiple wives can claim extra benefits for their “harems” even though bigamy is a crime in the UK, it has emerged.
Opposition MPs are demanding an urgent change in the law, claiming that the Government is recognising and rewarding a custom which has no legal status and which is “alien” to this country’s cultural traditions.
Officials said yesterday a review was now under way into whether the state should continue to pay out income support, jobseeker’s allowance and housing and council tax benefits to ‘extra’ spouses.
Islamic law allows a man to take up to four wives, providing he can provide for them fairly and equally. But British law only ever recognises one spouse, while bigamy is punishable by up to seven years in jail.
However, if a husband and his wives arrive and settle in Britain having wed in a country where polygamy is legal, then the UK benefits system recognises his extra wives as dependents and pays them accordingly.”
Posted: 18th, April 2007 | In: Tabloids Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
