Man Torn Between Two Wives Becomes Media Darling

http://www.popfi.com/2010/10/19/man-torn-between-two-wives-becomes-media...

It’s a dilemma a lot of men have faced at one point or another (in certain societies). Do you marry the woman your family arranged for one another, or do you marry for love? It’s like one of those romantic comedies where the beautiful rich girl falls in love with the scruffy, good-hearted poor boy despite being engaged to a handsome, cruel rich boy, except this involves a Pakistani man named Azhar Haidri and his two potential wives, Rumana Aslam and Humaira Quasim. Rather than choose, Haidri has decided to marry both women, one after the other, in a case that has caused an uproar in Pakistan.

Haidri, age 23, torn between his love for 21-year-old Rumana Aslam and his familiar duty to marry 28-year-old Humaira Qasim, just gave up and asked them both to marry him. Shockingly, both women agreed to it. Polygamy is common in Pakistan, but not under these circumstances, and certainly not multiple marriages within 24 hours of one another.

“I gave this offer that I will marry both of them,” Mr. Haidri said before his first marriage (to Qasim) in Multan, Pakistan. “Both the girls agreed.” Haidri partied after his marriage to Qasim, then married Aslam the following day. Haidri isn’t starting families, he’s starting franchises. And he’s still got two more marriages available under Islamic law.