[AnotherUnixGeek]

Any society where most women are in polygamous marriages necessarily ends up with a large surplus of males. Unless they're killed as infants or in utero, or they're killed in warfare as teenagers or young adults, or there's a non-polygamous society available outside to absorb them, they become a socially corrosive force.

For example, they might end up flying airplanes into tall buildings.

Even in Saudi Arabia, where the practice is legal, polygamous marriages make up less than 5% of the total. Polygamy does not explain jihadism, though the endless sexual frustration resulting from strict Islam might.

[MoochPooch]

Even in Saudi Arabia, where the practice is legal, polygamous marriages make up less than 5% of the total.

Most Arab men are monogamous, because marriage is expensive. It costs a lot of money to buy & keep one wife, let alone four.

Under Islamic law, a man has to provide equally for all his wives. This is nothing to an oil shiek, who obviously has the money, or a Bedouin, who simply would pitch another tent. But to a middle-class Arab, it is financial suicide.

In Saudi Arabia, as well as other Arab/Muslim countries, it is generally just the sheiks or the Bedouins with multiple wives. Unfortunately, this can create an equity problem, where some guys get all the girls, and the rest are frustrated.