NOT REAL NEWS: Polygamy not widespread among Danish Muslims
Posted August 10, 2018 12:08 pm.
Last Updated August 10, 2018 12:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Polygamy is not becoming a common practice in Denmark due to an influx of Muslim immigrants, as some online outlets have reported.
The stories cite Fakti, a Copenhagen-based organization that offers services to immigrant and refugee women, as saying one-third of the women they assist are in polygamous relationships. The stories also say polygamy is being practiced more widely by Muslims who are immigrating to the country.
Lise-Lotte Duch, who leads Fakti, told The Associated Press that many of the Muslim women they serve have been living in the country for years, and that it’s likely not many are in polygamous relationships.
“It is not a rising problem,” Duch said.
Polygamy is against the law in Denmark, and the country’s Ministry of Immigration and Integration does not track information on polygamy. About 250,000 Muslims live in Denmark, which has a population of 5.7 million people.
Anika Liversage, a senior researcher at the Danish Center for Social Science Research, found in a 2011 study on polygamous marriages that the practice is not common in Denmark.
“It is a marginal phenomenon,” said Liversage.
Mohammad Khani, an imam who oversees weddings and divorces at the Imam Ali Mosque in Copenhagen, one of the largest mosques in the city, says polygamy in Denmark’s Muslim community is almost nonexistent. He claims articles on the topic may stem from political discourse on immigration in the country.
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