It should be changed to "living together as man and wife in a family atmosphere...

It should be changed to "living together as man and wife in a family atmosphere, provided it is possible for them to marry and one of the spouses claims marriage which is not refuted by the other spouse; or in case of death of either spouse, it is commonly known that they were married and it is not proved that there was no marriage at all. Also, as we have mentioned earlier, in Islam a wife has no responsibility to maintain her husband.

Thus the proposal of the White paper to make the wife liable to maintain her husband goes completely against Qur'anic injunctions. As a debate is going on the question of polygamy, it is necessary to reaffirm that we are fully convinced of the desirability, nay, and essentiality of polygamy in many cases. African society, as the White Paper rightly affirms, is a polygamous society.…