Somali-Canadian Islamic Preacher: Muslim Women Who Do Not Want to Share Their Husband Are Not True Believers

On November 16, 2019, a Friday sermon titled “Benefits of Polygyny” by Somali-Canadian Islamic Preacher Said Rageah was uploaded to the Kenya-based ILM TV YouTube channel. Sheikh Rageah said that women who do not want to allow their husband to have another wife are not true believers because Islam expects Muslims to make sacrifices for the sake of Allah, that it is the nature of men to pursue multiple sexual partners and therefore to have multiple wives, and that people who are against Islam disapprove of polygyny because they want Muslim women to be “cheap goods” like non-Muslim women. He said that polygyny benefits women because there are more women in the world than men and because it helps distribute the responsibilities of fulfilling the rights of husbands and caring for children among multiple wives. In addition, Sheikh Rageah said that mothers who do not allow their daughters to marry a man who has other wives are preventing the marriage for selfish reasons because they don’t want their husbands to marry another wife, as well. Furthermore, he said that if one Muslim woman commits fornication because of weak faith or because no man has proposed to her, then the entire Muslim nation shares in her sin. At multiple points throughout the sermon, Sheikh Rageah said that the men in the audience need not be concerned about what their wives might think about the content of the sermon. He also joked: “If you are [asking] how come [I] only [have] one wife… [Polygyny] is illegal in Canada, but the moment I cross the border, I am at Allah’s service.”