God will take care of them, says Sardar Jan Mohammad Khilji.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
A 46-year-old man from Pakistan, who is the father of 35 children, is in search of a fourth wife and wants to have 100 children.
Sardar Jan Mohammad Khilji, a medical technician by profession, believes that having 100 children will find him a place in heaven, reported AFP.
Khilji has three wives and his religion permits him to have a fourth one. According to him, it is a religious duty to have maximum number of children.
Khilji claims that his current wives will support his goals and they along with the children live in harmony. However, he didn’t permit his wives to comment on it. The family is living in a five-bedroom house on the outskirts of Quetta in Balochistan.
His two elder children have also come up with support for their father.
“A large family is like Allah bestowing a case of mangoes,” his eldest child Shagufta Nasreen told AFP. The 15-year-old wants to study medicine.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Esa, the 13-year-old son of Khilji, is of the opinion that his father will have more than 100 children.
Khilji had his first marriage when he was 26. Interestingly, all the three marriages were arranged by his parents.
“I married the first one…when I was 26 years old, and the next year wedded the other two within a gap of five months,” he told AFP.
In Pakistan, men are allowed to marry up to four women under Islamic law, but with the permission of the first wife and an arbitration council.
According to Koran, men can take multiple wives only if they can do perfect justice among them, a point that activists say is impossible.
“Well, perfect justice is impossible, and for this reason, polygamy is never a good situation,” Rafia Zakaria, a women’s rights activist was quoted as saying by AFP.
“Someone always suffers and almost always it is the women and children,” she added.
Khilji runs an unregulated clinic and treats people for minor ailments. He charges Rupees 250 for single consultation and treats poor people free of cost. He also runs a seminary where 400 children learn Koran.
Though he doesn’t have any financial problem now, the report says that his household expenses may go up to Rupees 120,000 a month which is more than ten times the national average.
Khilji also feels that he needs to find more money in the future as his expenses will increase. He is planning to approach the government seeking financial help. If the government refuses to help, he believes that god will take care of the family.