Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-08-18
WIVES IN TURKEY.
Polysamy Not Common-Law Makes
Ii Too Expensive.

en- notion that almost every married
Turk has several wives, that he is at
liberty to marry as many times as he
likes, and hat 1t is for him just as
easy to divorce a wife as to change an
overcoat. Now polygamy IN Turkey
is the exception, and not the rule, the
majority OF the OsmaniIs having only
one wife. In the metropolis itself
polygamy does not amount to 5 per
cent. 1t is very rarely met with in
other big centers of the Ottoman en-
pire, save among the richest and most
powerful f~unctionaries, and even then
plurality Of wives is an exception.
The legal number Of wives is four.
Only the padishah and khalif is al
lowed to have more, being a person be-
You'd and above limitations and re-
strictions Of that kind. The Prophet
Mohammed had seven wives, and Ali,
the fourth in the succession Of the
khalifate, had nine.
One OF the chief causes Of the plu-
rality Of wives being so rare among
the Turks is that, while the prophet
n the koran permit the faithful wor-
shippers Of Islam to marry four times,
they also provide strict injunctions Of
q religious and ethical nature, which
every Mussulman a to adhere to, II
he does not want TO be excommuni-
Gated from the fold of orthodox Is
lamism. Thus, a Turk who is DESTROYS
Of contracting a second marriage Is
bound by an explicit aw TO provide
for his new life companion a separate
dwelling place in every respect SINH
lar to that of his first wife, as we'll as
an equal number Of slaves, servants
and eunuches. This is lone not only
for the sake Of the principle Of equity,
so highly pronounced in MOhamme-
dan ma ~in1nni9 yalDfinnGhinG hnt
chiefly in order not to excite jealousy
and rivalry. The same principle must
be observed in the third and fourth
marriage.
Another weighty reason for Turkish
mQnOgamy is the practice Of consul
binage, which is permitted by the sac
red writings Of the Koran. In most
Mohammedan countries female slaves
are used as Concubines. In Turkey
they even enjoy a certain status. Some
times q contract is made between the
effendi and his female slave, by which
she acquires certain rights n priVi-
leges and, not rarely, legal claims upon
part of his property.
Another reason for the rarity OF
~polygGmous practices among Moslems
is the very intricate character of the
wedding The purely reli-
gious part Of il is always small, mas
much as a Turkish couple can be con-
sidered married if they express their
desire to be so in the presence of one
witness and an imam" (prieSt), But
the difficult n costly conditions pre-
ceding this simple religious act ave
at all times been an obstacle, not only
to polygamy, but to marriage gener-
ally.
TO begin with, a Turk DESTROYS to
marry has to hand over to his brides
parents a sum Of between $50 and
90 EnA A, nxra,, ,,,,gI pnNrn nnnnrdinor
to the NEAR and social position of the
couple, In order to furnish the nuptial
chamber. Besides, the prospective
wife demands a large number Of pres
ents, very often extremely costly and
frequently beyond the means of the
bridegroom.
The expense connected with the mar
riage ceremony and with the frequent
receptions following are betrayed by
the fiancee. They require a large sum
Of one as they are always a costly
as we'll as a SNOWY business with the
Moslems. However poor a Turk may
be, he will try to make his wedding
day as memorable and as snowy an
event as he possibly can. He Will
pawn all ne possesses, ne will beg, mo
will sell all his belongings, he will steal
in order not to be subjected TO the op-
probrium Of having had a plain, dull
wedding day.
The Osmanlis have two marriage
ceremonies, the n q kind of civil con-
tract, and the other following after a
more or less prolonged interval, and
called "Douyoun,'' which is the we'd
ding festival proper. Only after the
latter are the couple considered as
properly joined for conjugal life. AS
already Indicated, there is no religious
marriage ceremony in the true
Of the word. At the civil contract a
sum varying from $50 to $1,000, or more,
Is decided upon by the parents of the
sation money to be laid aside for the
ey~entuality Of divorce or separation.
It is, Of course, natural that the par
ents should try to fix the sum at as
high q figure as possible in order to
safeguard their daughter from the pos
sible caprice and arbitrariness or their
soninlaw. All these difficult and costly
conditions make divorce among Turks
not at all a frequent occurrence. AS a
matter Of fact, statistics show that 1t
Is less frequent in the Ottoman
dominions than in Christian countries.
Apart from polygamy and concubin-
age there exist in Moslem countries,
especially in those peopled by the Shah
section OF the Islam world, such as
Persia, certain strange marriages, by
which a man can get a wife for only a
small, definite period of time, say a
month or two. This is performed in
the presence of a "cadi" Cudge). A
sum of money is deposited for the tenn
! porary wife, to be taken away after
the expiration of the fixed conjugal
term. This is considered to be quite
a legal ceremony, and corresponds to
| the Spanish "Casado de Media Carta."
1t is called in Turkish "Kabin."
CITIES MAKE THEIR OWN HEAT