Anyone legally married to one wife and also attempting to have a common-law marriage relationship with another, is committing the crime of polygamy and open to prosecution resulting in imprisonment and fine or both.
Source/Credit: Wikipedia / Various
By Staff report | August 28, 2013
There is hardly ever an interfaith event where a question about the practice of polygamy and bigamy in Islam wouldn't come up during the discussion.
Whether Muslim men in North America can have multiple wives should be analyzed through a two-step filters. The first filter is the Islamic perspective about submitting to and obeying the laws of the land, and second test is to understand the local laws about polygamy and bigamy.
The laws of the land
Q: What is Islam's view on obedience to the law of the land?
The following excerpts are taken from the answer provided by IslamicFAQ, a Q&A website:
"In Islam obedience to the law of the land is a religious duty. The Qur'an commands Muslims to remain faithful to not only Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (saw), but also the authority they live under:
O ye who believe! obey Allah, and obey His Messenger and those who are in authority over you (Ch.4: V.60)."
"Any country or government that guarantees religious freedom to followers of different faiths (not just Islam) must be owed loyalty. The Prophet Muhammad (saw) stressed this point when he said:
‘One who obeys his authority, obeys me. One who disobeys his authority, disobeys me.’ (Muslim)"
The website also quotes the present head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hadhrat Mirza
Masroor Ahmad (aba), saying:
‘... It is the responsibility of a true Muslim that he should remain loyal and fully abide by the laws of the land of which he is a subject.’
(Baitul Futuh Inauguration Reception, 11 Oct 2003)"
Therefore, it is clear that according to Islam Muslims must obey the law of the land as anything to the contrary would mean that they are not obeying their Prophet or their religion.
There are erroneous rumors running among men that multiple wives can be accommodated through some frivolous schemes - by manipulating the legal definition of 'common-law marriage.'
Well, that is just not true, the research tells us.
Polygamy and bigamy
Knowingly having more than one wife or husband at the same time is polygamy, while willfully and knowingly entering into a second marriage while validly married to another individual is bigamy.
In North America, according to Wikipedia, polygamy has never been a legally recognized institution, including through any scheme of bending, stretching or otherwise manipulating the 'common-law marriage' definition.
Wikipedia says that a person marrying another person while still being lawfully married to a second person is illegal in the United States. Citing Model Penal Code (section 230.1), Wikipedia says "the crime is punishable either by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense."
In short anyone legally married to one wife and also attempting to have a common-law wife, is committing the crime of polygamy.
According to Farlex Dictionary (The Free Dictionary), the law in every state prohibits a man or a woman from being married to more than one living person at a time.
The crime of having more than one current spouse - called bigamy (having two spouses) - is a subset of the crime of polygamy (having more than one spouse).
The law makes no practical distinction between the two variations of the crime, polygamy or bigamy and, Farlex Dictionary says, even in states that separately criminalize both polygamy and bigamy, either crime is committed when a married person first enters into an unlawful marriage with a second person. "However, additional marriages beyond the second would support prosecution for additional criminal counts and possibly a longer sentence."
Polygamy laws do not apply to Aliens who are temporarily visiting the United States, provided that polygamy is lawful in their country of origin.
The crime of polygamy is deemed to continue until all cohabitation with and claim of marriage to more than one spouse terminate and even persons who satisfy the requirement for a Common-Law Marriage can be prosecuted for entering a subsequent marriage that itself is either another common-law marriage or a traditional marriage.
Cohabitation is not typically a requisite element of the offense. Merely entering into a second marriage with knowledge that one is currently married to another living person will support an indictment for polygamy.
Ordinarily the state in which the polygamous marriage occurred has jurisdiction over prosecution of the crime. Some statutes, however, provide that the accused may be convicted in the state where the polygamous cohabitation takes place, even though the marriage occurred elsewhere. For example, California law provides that "when the second marriage took place out of this state, proof of that fact, accompanied with proof of cohabitation thereafter in this state, is sufficient to sustain the charge." Cal. Pen. Code § 281.
According to research polygamy is illegal also in France, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, and United Kingdom and various penalties including fine and jail times are specified.
There are no so-called 'common-law' provisions noted to get around the polygamy laws.
-- Faith practices versus laws of the land: Polygamy & bigamy in North America
-- Ahmadiyya Times
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