Allah allows Muslims to take four wives, Chechen leader says

MOSCOW: Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov on Tuesday said that men living in Russia’s predominantly Muslim region can take as many as four wives, even though polygamy is banned in the country. Kadyrov, who has ruled Chechnya since 2004 and is a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin, told state television he was not preparing to legalise polygamy but that “for Muslims, I don’t need to give permission.” “Allah gives permission to have four wives,” he said. “Since forever, even during the harshest time of the Soviet Union, people would take a second, a third or even a fourth wife, and it is impossible to ban us from doing this,” said Kadyrov. He stressed that he was referring to a religious Islamic marriage, not a legally valid one officiated over by a registrar.