TRIPOLI, Libya
It was just a passing reference to marriage in a leader’s soberly delivered speech, but all week it has unsettled women in Libya as well as allies abroad.
In announcing the success of the Libyan revolution and calling for a new, more pious nation, the head of the interim government, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, also seemed to clear the way for unrestricted polygamy in a Muslim country where it has been limited and rare for decades.
It looked like a sizable step backward for women at a moment when much here – institutions, laws, social relations – is still in play after the end of Moammar Gadhafi’s 42 years of authoritarian rule.
In his speech, Abdul-Jalil declared that a Gadhafi-era law that placed restrictions on multiple marriages, which is a tenet of Islamic law, or Shariah, would be done away with. The law, which stated that a first wife had to give permission before others were added, for instance, had kept polygamy rare here.
“This law is contrary to Shariah and must be stopped,” Abdul-Jalil told the crowd, vowing that the new government would adhere more faithfully to Shariah. The next day he reiterated the point to reporters at a news conference: “Shariah allows polygamy,” he said. Abdul-Jalil is known for his piety.
He also remarked cryptically, “We will not abolish any law.”
Still, some women here saw the collective remarks of the chairman of the Transitional National Council as a menacing sign that the new Libya would mean new repression. Human-rights lawyers also viewed the comments as a clearly aimed swipe at the Gadhafi law on marriage, as did a scholar of Islamic law at the University of Tripoli.
Libya experts abroad saw the leader’s foray as a political effort aimed at placating newly influential Islamists.
“He and the other leaders are not quite certain which way this is going to turn,” said Dirk J. Vandewalle, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College. “They are hedging their bets. The worrisome thing is he mentioned these things, which take him outside the mainstream.”
Abroad, the reaction was one of dismay among allies whose military firepower ensured Gadhafi’s fall. The French foreign minister, Alain Juppe, said: “This is a problem for us, especially in regard to respect for the dignity of women.” He later was forced to defend the government’s championing of Libya’s rebels against critics in the National Assembly.
And among young women at the university in Tripoli, the sentiment was overwhelmingly negative, even for those more tightly wrapped in head scarves than the others, who agreed with Abdul-Jalil that Shariah should be the basis for the country’s as-yet unwritten new constitution.
Women here played an important role in the uprising, yet signs of their traditional status – they stand separately from men at rallies, and an overwhelming majority wear head scarves – persist after the revolution.
“To follow Islamic rules is a good thing. To have many wives is not a good thing,” said a 24-year-old biology student, Awatif Alhjagi.
“I’m worried. People that did not have that right before may now get four wives,” she said. “Because he talked about it, they probably will do it now.”
There was disquiet that Abdul-Jalil had zeroed in on the marriage issue in a relatively brief speech. Unprompted, the young women circulating in a university courtyard angrily brought up his comments.
“All the girls are mad that he said that,” said Bushra ben Omran, a 20-year-old English student. “I don’t want to marry somebody who is already married.”
“He should not have said this in his speech,” Omran added. “He didn’t focus on all the injured people” from the revolution, she said. “I didn’t expect this.”
Rehab Zehany, 20, who said Abdul-Jalil was merely following the dictates of the Quran, added, when asked if she would accept her husband taking a second wife: “Of course not! I would kill him!”
Unlike in its African Muslim neighbors to the south, where multiple-wife family compounds are frequently seen, polygamy has hardly been part of the essential fabric of daily life here. Under Gadhafi, there was a notion that polygamous marriages were the exception, said Azza Kamel Maghur, a lawyer here. Apart from the wife’s consent – delivered in front of a judge – a man had to give reasons for taking another wife.
Like other women here, Maghur, whose father was briefly foreign minister under Gadhafi, was sharply critical of the country’s temporary leader for proposing fundamental changes during a period of transition.
“Women gained rights in the 1970s,” she said. “We don’t want to lose them.” Abdul-Jalil had gone beyond his limited brief, she said: “You can’t change the law related to interest or family law. No, no, no!”
In Benghazi on Friday, several hundred men staged a demonstration in support Abdul-Jalil and demanded that his prescriptions be carried out.
At the very least, the leader opened up the subject for debate, female activists here said – even if they are wary of the direction in which Abdul-Jalil appears to be pointing the country.
“He’s saying, a marriage of four women,” said Hana el-Galal, a leading human rights lawyer. “But a marriage of four, there isn’t an open license for that. To just make it an open license, to talk about these topics in such a manner, it’s very disappointing,” she said. She added, “It would have been a better priority to talk about elections.”
Mansour O. El-Kikhia, chairman of the department of political science and geography at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said Abdul-Jalil’s speech demonstrated the interim leadership’s “inexperience and amateurism,” adding that he had “done a disservice to females.”
That was the view among women – though not some men – at the university in Tripoli. “I’m meeting people who say, ‘Now I can marry three, four wives.’ This is totally wrong,” said Najah al-Tabeb, a 37-year-old psychology instructor. “Men can never treat women equally,” she said, smiling and shaking her finger when asked if she would marry a man who was already married.
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