A rise in the incidence of "temporary" marriages among Shi'ite Muslims is causing concern among women's rights activists. According to women's NGOs in the south of the country, more than 300 temporary marriages occur daily in Kerbala, Najaf and Basra, Iraq's three main Shi'ite cities.
"The poverty, especially for women who have lost their husbands in the years of war, is the main reason for them accepting such agreements," said Salua Fatihi, head of two non-governmental women's rights organisations in southern Iraq. "It's an easy way to protect their children and put food on the table."
"They [men] use them as sexual objects under the guise of a religious belief," Fatihi added.
According to Shi'ite religious law, unmarried women may enter into temporary marriages for periods ranging from hours to an entire lifetime. A payment is made to the woman, often around US $1,000 or the equivalent in gold.
The practice, known as Muta'a, was banned during the Saddam Hussein regime, but has re-emerged since 2003.
"I've been in a difficult position since my husband died during the war in 2003 and my children were hungry, so I decided to accept this temporary marriage," said Um Hassan, a widow. "I was his sexual slave for one month and than he just said my time had expired and left."
Karima Abbas' marriage lasted less than a week: "He slept with me every day for a week and then went back to his wife, leaving me pregnant without any help," said Abbas.
"Today, I'm considered a prostitute by society," she added.
Rules governing temporary marriages differ from those of normal unions in that only men are permitted to dissolve them. Men may also marry more than once and can have several Muta'a arrangements simultaneously.
Marriage ceremonies are officiated by a sheikh and must have a witness, but – in contrast to typical marriages – do not require the presence of family.
"If you say it's a bad practice, the sheiks will answer that, on the contrary, it helps these women," said Fatihi. "But we think financial problems should be dealt with by the government and not by sexual practices."
Sheikh Hussein Abdul Kader, a Shi'ite cleric in Najaf, who presides over at least five temporary marriages a day, defended the practice.
"We're like animals, which require sexual activity, but religion prohibits this before marriage," he said. "So you can have a woman for this prospect without affecting her honour because normally she is a widow; she is not a virgin anymore."
"In the mean-time, we're helping these windows to support their families," Kader added.
The new Iraqi constitution, which guarantees freedom of marriage according to religious beliefs, has been criticized by women's activists who want equal treatment for men and women independent of religion, ethnicity or origin.
We shall see how far those of us who have been criticizing the overwhelming Shi'ite and Iranian influence over the legal, social, and political developments in Iraq will actually get with our objections! Something tells me that unless Iran is somehow prevented from exerting the type of control and influence that it is currently enjoying in Iraq, Iraq will have as much of a chance for democracy as a snow ball in hell.
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Comments: 31
What a way to take advantage of someone, horrible.
Thanks.
This is a reprehensible situation viewed from our Western perspective on human rights. Do we then send armed forces to crush the govenmental power structure which supports this religious belief, anywhere it exists on the planet? In dualistic societies which condone all expressions of religious belief, no matter how onerous to us, is it our moral duty to export, at the end of a bayonet, Western style cultural concepts?
The notion of temporary marriages is one that has been created and promoted by the Shi'ites. For the most part, the Sunni's are against the concept of "segheh." The Shi'ites have used it to operate a growing and profitable sex-trafficking industry.
Prostitution is a sin and unlawful under Islamic law. However, the concept of "Seigheh," or temporary marriage, is how the Shi'ite Muslims have gotten around this "problem"!! For example, in Iran, the legal age for marriage for girls is 9 years old. A man can arrange to marry such a child by paying a sum of money to the "guardian" of the girl and obtaining an official marriage certificate from a Mullah. The temporary marriage can last anywhere from one hour to years. And only the man can "dissolve" this type of marriage. As you can see, this is pure and simple prostitution, with the religious leaders acting as pimps. As long as they "bless" such "unions" through the authority vested in them by Allah itself, then it can't be a sin or illegal for the man. Unlike permanent marriages, the man involved in a seigheh has no legal duty to take care of his temporary wife in any way, and can have as many temporary wives as he desires. He can then leave these girls and women whenever he chooses, leaving the "child-bride" without any support and, quite often, pregnant. It is a vicious and horrifying cycle that, once again, underscores the perception of women as slaves and chattel.
1. It's LILY, not Liz!!
2. In the context of Iraq, yes, this is a result of the war for a number of reasons: (a) Temporary marriages were not allowed under Saddam's regime; (b) The war has made many Iraqi women and girls fartherless, widowed, etc., which, when combined with Iraq's current dismal economic situation, has forced a substantial number of women and girls into poverty. Temporary marriages are the only way that some women can provide for their families; (c) the U.S. invasion of Iraq opened the way for the Iranians to infiltrate Iraq and to substantially influence the cultural, political, and economic changes that are taking place in the post-Saddam Iraq. Part of this influence has been to establish a legal and social structure that is, for all intents and purposes, a carbon copy of the Iranian theocracy. As such, temporary marriages are no longer illegal in Iraq, thanks to the Iran's blessing of the practice!
3. During the reign of the Shah, Iran's population was mostly Shi'ite Muslim, as it is today. However, temporary marriages were not allowed. It was not until the Mullah's overthrew the King's regime and established Sharia law in Iran that the concept of temporary marriages were established. Accordingly, the practice is not in any way "a time honored tradition" for Shi'ites. It is, in large part, the creation of the ruling Mullahs of Iran.
4. Because, after Saddam, Iraq adopted the Sharia legal system, temporary marriages are NOT a crime against Iraqi women. Iraqi men (or any Muslim man) can enter into temporary marriages with Iraqi women just as legally as he can with an Iranian woman.
My query, I believe, you answered in that temporary marriage is accepted practice under Sharia Law and the practice is facillitated by Iraqi poverty due to the American invasion and establishment of fundementalist culture in Iraq led by Iranians. What to do?
60% of Iraq is Shi'ite. In the last "elections" the Shi'ite voted for their own. Is it possible to stop the tide of popular action without direct military intervention and occupation of the Shi'ite regions, ejection of the Iranians and cultural repression? Liberty must have a practical context on the ground. Given their "freedom" from Saddam and free voice to choose their own destiny they chose religious conservatism. How can we influence this? Establishment of a client Saddam, a Saddam "light"?
John, no, I don't think the Qur'an has any references on this temporary marriages. It was one of the things that Prophet Muhammad ban for Muslims to do. Reading the history, there were several steps that the Prophet took to Muslims' marriages. Before Islam, there were so many middle ages marriage practices, and this one was among them. Even to have 4 wives has so many conditions that basically human being like us would not be able to fulfilled anyway. So stick to one spouse only guy!
Lily- Probably the best thing to do about it right now is exactly what you are doing, making people aware of the issue. If the Prophet Muhammad barred this practice, then the more exposure it gets the better. Not just here, but inside Iraq. Hopefully if the legal system there gets it act together, then something can be done about it on a national scale, as opposed to regional mullahs approving it.
Thanks Lily.
1There is no mention of Temporary Marriages in Quran.
2 Mohammad(PBUH) has banned it.
3 Sunni Muslims consider Mutaa a sin(Adultrey).
Yeh! I agree with all of you, i think this practice shall be banned.
what about the legalized prostitution in Netherlands??
Exodus 22:16-17
16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his wife.
17 If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he must still pay the bride-price for virgins.
I am rather astonished that you are unaware of condemnation of terrorist acts by Muslims. I suppose that is yet another unfortunate failure of our main-stream media. In reality, Muslims who engage in acts of terrorism, as well as those who support their actions, comprise a significantly small minority of the Muslim population around the world.
Unfortunately, violations of women's human rights does not enjoy nearly the same type of condemnation. Women in Islamic societies are considered inherently inferior to men on every level, and their existence is valued so far as it serves the lives of the men in their societies. The fact that approximately 75% of the Quran itself is devoted to men's sexual satisfaction and practices does not help matters either.
Muta' is a middle ground between permanent marriage, and either celibacy or fornication. It is a right of women, and it recognizes women's natural sexualit and her vulnerabilit in society.
Muta' was IS mentioned in Quran. Quoting from Dr. Sachiko Murata in her Doctorate Thesis on Islamic Law, Quran mentions and condones the practice of Muta "in the sura entitled 'Women', after listing those women to whom marriage is forbidden, the Qur'an states as follows: 'Lawful for you is what is beyond all that, that you may seek, using your wealth, in wedlock and not in license. So those of them whom you enjoy, give them their appointed wages; it is no fault in you in agreeing together, after the due apportionate. God is All-Knowing, All-Wise' (4:24). All Shi'i ulama' and some Sunni ulama' hold that this verse-especially the words: 'Such wives as you enjoy (istamta'tum)'-refers to the permissibility of mut'a. The Shi'is present several arguments to prove this point."
There are many reasons why women choose to have sex with a man, my young sister. Looks, Money, Prestige, Sexual Longing, Piety, Love... a combination of all these things. In Islam sex is not considered dirty, nasty, gross, sinful. Sex is considered a natural human need. However, Islam mandates that there exist some kind of covenant between the parties engaging in the act. One kind is ideally supposed to be for life, with the possibility of divorce. The second is supposed to be for pleasure, for a limited time.
In modern, Western society folks go together. A whole lot of women, young and old, go with a man because of his wealth. They try to please that man, in hopes that their financial and social status will be either maintained or elevated. This is an undeniable fact. If they become pregnant in this relationship, they are often expected to either abort. If they choose to have the child, the state imposes child support on the father. Same case in Muta'.
Saddam's Iraq, was more or less socialist. Even housing was free, or dirt cheap. Order was maintained with an iron fist. Then came the sanctions and the war. Many women are left without any man in her family. Still there is no government, and let us not forget the real need for sexual companionship. All of these variable gives rise to more cases of Muta'.
You have said Muta' is like prostitution. But there is a dowery paid even in Nikkah. And in Arab country, and Indian countries (Pakistan), these dowries are outrageously high. Is this a form of prostitution too? In a Muta' contract, a woman is required to wait for two periods before she goes to another man. This does not make for a lucrative trade.
If anyone wants to study thoroughly, the historical, theological, and controversial aspects of Muta from a much more scholarly approach to:
http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/muta/
and read Dr. Murata's very interesting dissertation.
Peace
Forgive me, but I don't recall saying that this despicable practice "com[es] from the Shari'a law." Conversely, I HAVE stated that temporary marriages are unique to Shi'ites, that it is not practiced in Sunny societies, and that it was banned under Saddam Hussain's regime.