University of Baltimore Law Forum Volume 6 Article 14 Number 4 April, 1976 4-1976 "Your Wives Are a Tilth For You...:" Sex, Marriage and Divorce under Islamic Law T. W. Lapin Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/lf Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Lapin, T. W. (1976) ""Your Wives Are a Tilth For You...:" Sex, Marriage and Divorce under Islamic Law," University of Baltimore Law Forum: Vol. 6 : No. 4 , Article 14. Available at: http://scholarworks.law.ubalt.edu/lf/vol6/iss4/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Baltimore Law Forum by an authorized editor of ScholarWorks@University of Baltimore School of Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. of the earth, and that divorce in the Soviet Union today is much faster and less cumbersome than in any Muslim land. An Englishwoman, travelling in Egypt during the early years of the last century, remarked that, if there was a hell on earth, it was where polygamy was prac ticed. Hardly an objective view, it nevertheless deserves some examina tion. Before becoming dewey-eyed over the thought of innocent young girls being delivered into a living death in the harem of a sex-crazed sheikh, a cursory glance at the intricate and eugenically sound Islamic prohibitions on consan guinity, forced and arranged marriages, etc., is in order. Muslim marriages are, in contrast to the sacramental ritual to which we are