China, Japan and Korea: strict monogamy and guidance for Muslims

1Brief overview

No jurisdiction in East Asia has an Islamic family law. Civil law applies to all residents regardless of religion. A marriage takes effect through state registration, and a nikah at a mosque has no legal effect of its own. There are no Shariah courts, so disputes over maintenance, divorce and custody are tried in the civil or family courts.

2China: monogamy for all, including the Hui and Uyghurs

• The Civil Code 2020 (Book V, in force 1 Jan 2021). This Code replaced the Marriage Law 1980. Article 1041 sets out a marriage system based on freedom of marriage, monogamy and equality between men and women. Article 1042 prohibits bigamy and prohibits a person who has a spouse from cohabiting with another. Article 1051 makes a bigamous marriage void, and a void marriage has no legal effect from the outset. When property from a void marriage is divided, the rights of the party to the lawful marriage may not be harmed.
• Registration. A marriage exists only once it is registered at the civil affairs bureau (article 1049).
• Crime. Criminal Law article 258 provides for imprisonment of up to two years or criminal detention for anyone who has a spouse and marries again, or who marries a person they know already has a spouse. According to judicial interpretation, openly living together as husband and wife without registration can also amount to bigamy.
• No ethnic or religious exemption. The monogamy rule applies equally to Hui, Uyghur, Kazakh and other Muslims. In Xinjiang, the De-extremification Regulation 2017 article 9 lists marriage or divorce "by religious means" without legal procedure as a manifestation of extremism. Media reports (RFA 2020, VOA 2021) state that couples have been punished for a nikah without a state marriage certificate.
• Divorce. Divorce may be by agreement at the registration office, subject to a 30-day cooling-off period (article 1076–1077), or through the courts (article 1079). A pronounced talaq does not dissolve the marriage.

3Japan

• Monogamy. Civil Code article 732 states that a person who has a spouse may not marry again. A marriage that breaches this is not automatically void but voidable. An application may be made to the family court by either party, their relatives or the public prosecutor, and also by the spouse or former spouse (article 744).
• Registration. A marriage takes effect through notification under the Family Register Act (article 739(1)) at the municipal office (shiyakusho). Without notification, the marriage is invalid (article 742).
• Crime. Penal Code article 184 provides for imprisonment with labour of up to two years for a person who marries again and for the party who marries them.
• Foreign marriages. The Act on General Rules for Application of Laws article 24(1) provides that the formation of a marriage is governed by each party's national law. The form of the marriage is governed by the law of the place where it is celebrated (article 24(2)), but if the marriage is made in Japan and one party is a Japanese national, the Japanese form must be used (article 24(3)). Article 42 rejects foreign law that conflicts with public policy. Japanese nationals may not practise polygamy anywhere. Recognition of a polygynous marriage between two foreign nationals that is valid in their home country is uncertain; it depends on the issue being tried, such as inheritance or maintenance (to be verified). Municipal offices do not accept notification of a second wife (to be verified).
• The Muslim community. Professor Emeritus Tanada Hirofumi (Waseda) estimates there were about 420,000 Muslims in Japan at the end of 2024, compared with 230,000 in 2019, with more than 160 mosques (reported by SCMP, 2026).

4South Korea

• Monogamy. Civil Act article 810 states that a person who has a spouse may not marry again. A bigamous marriage is not void in itself; it is a ground for annulment (article 816). An action for annulment may be brought by the party themselves, their spouse, certain relatives or the public prosecutor, and the marriage remains valid until it is annulled.
• Registration. A marriage takes effect through a report under the Act on the Registration of Family Relationships (Civil Act article 812).
• No crime of bigamy. The Korean Criminal Act does not make bigamy an offence; its effects are only civil. Adultery has also no longer been a crime since the Constitutional Court ruled it unconstitutional on 26 February 2015.
• Divorce. Divorce may be by agreement, confirmed by the family court and reported (article 834), or by a court judgment on the grounds in article 840.

5Taiwan and Hong Kong

• Taiwan. Civil Code article 985 prohibits a person who has a spouse from marrying again, or from marrying two people at the same time. Article 988 makes such a marriage void. An exception is made where the parties married in good faith and without negligence, relying on a previous divorce or court judgment that was later set aside. Marriage must be registered (article 982). Bigamy is a crime under Criminal Code article 237: imprisonment of up to five years, with the same penalty for the other party.
• Hong Kong. Since 7 October 1971, the Marriage Reform Ordinance (Cap. 178) s.4 has defined marriage as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman. The status of a concubine taken before that date is protected (s.5). A foreign marriage is recognised under the Married Persons Status Ordinance (Cap. 182) s.2(2) if it is valid where it was celebrated, both parties had capacity under the law of their domicile, and it does not offend the conscience of the court. A marriage while either party is still married is void (Matrimonial Causes Ordinance, Cap. 179, s.20(1)(c)). Bigamy is punishable by imprisonment of up to seven years (Offences Against the Person Ordinance, Cap. 212, s.45).

6Guidance for Muslims: registration first, then the nikah

In these systems, the safe sequence is civil registration and the Shariah nikah, and both must be done. Registration gives legal protection, while the nikah fulfils the requirements of the Shariah.

1. Documents. Obtain a certificate of single or divorced status from your home country, translated and legalised. For Malaysians, this certificate is usually arranged through the Malaysian Embassy.
2. Register the civil marriage. Register at the civil affairs bureau (China), the municipal office (Japan), the district office (Korea), or the Marriage Registry (Hong Kong).
3. The nikah. The contract may be made at a mosque or by a community imam, with a wali, two witnesses and a mahr. If the wali is not present, a proxy (wakalah) or a judge as wali (wali hakim) must be arranged according to the school; see wali.
4. Register in Malaysia. Malaysians must register the marriage at the embassy or the state religious affairs office within the period set by the state enactment. See recognition of marriages abroad.

7Polygyny: practical consequences

• A second wife cannot be registered in any of these jurisdictions. If a husband registers a second marriage, it is void or voidable, and in China, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong it can lead to a criminal charge of bigamy.
• A religious nikah only means the second wife has no right to maintenance, jointly acquired matrimonial property or inheritance under local law. The children may also need to go through a procedure of acknowledgement of paternity (ninchi in Japan) to obtain status (to be verified). In China, openly living together as husband and wife may be treated as bigamy (Criminal Law article 258).
• Immigration. A dependant spouse visa is usually limited to one lawful spouse (to be verified for each country).
• The Shariah ruling. Polygyny is permissible on condition of justice and means (Surah an-Nisa' 4:3), but it is not obligatory. Obeying the law of the country where one lives by not practising polygyny does not conflict with one's faith, and the agreement made in order to live there must be honoured (Surah al-Ma'idah 5:1). See Muslim minorities.

8What Malaysians need to know

• Syariah Court permission. A Muslim man resident in Malaysia still needs the written permission of the Syariah Court before practising polygyny, even if the contract is made abroad (Act 303 s.23 and the equivalent state enactments). Marrying without permission is an offence (Act 303 s.123). The Syariah Court's permission also does not make a second marriage valid in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
• Students and workers. If you marry while studying or working there, register the marriage civilly and also in Malaysia. A nikah "at the mosque only" is not recognised by the host country and may be hard to re-register in Malaysia.
• Divorce. A civil divorce there does not necessarily end the marriage in the eyes of the Malaysian Syariah Court, and a pronounced talaq does not dissolve the civil marriage there. Settle both. See talaq and cross-border marriage.

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