Muslim Malaysians often have complex and tangled views about polygamy. Their feelings and beliefs are not always mirrored by their actions. What role does pragmatism play? What role does faith play?

ABC producer Damien Carrick meets the adventure sportsman who has climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. He jokes that keeping his two wives happy is harder than climbing Mt Everest. He meets the academic researcher who became a second wife to help an old high-school friend become a father. She also briefly contemplated a third marriage to a rich suitor but broke it off when his first wife began to harass her.

Then he meets the feminist activist who studies the Koran and interprets it as saying “one wife is best”. She now runs an international organisation that promotes women’s rights in family law systems across Muslim majority countries.

And he meets Malaysia’s first female Shariah High Court judge. She acknowledges it would break her heart if her husband announced he wanted a second wife. Nevertheless, she encourages reluctant wives to accept the inevitable, be pragmatic and allow their husband to proceed with a second marriage. The judge says this allows her to make court orders that protect the rights of the first wife and those of her children.

(Photo: Judge Nenney Shushaidah, first female judge of Malaysian Shariah High Court. Credit: Khaldoun Abou Alshamat) Show less