Posted on 06/04/2007 11:55:43 AM PDT by DogByte6RER
Published: 03/06/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)
Minister backs brief marriages to curb illicit sex Agencies
Tehran: Iran's interior minister faced criticism from women activists on Saturday after advocating the practice of temporary marriage as a way to meet the needs of young people in the Islamic state, which bans extramarital sex.
"Is it possible that Islam is indifferent to a 15-year-old youth into whom God has put lust?" newspapers quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi, who is also a cleric, as telling a religious seminar this week.
Temporary marriage, or sigha, is an agreement between a manand a women to get married for a specified time, even for just afew days. It has long been practised by Shiite Muslims, who are dominant in Iran, even though it is unclear how common it is.
Sunni Muslims say it is illegal and akin to prostitution, but some Shiites scholars say it reflects the reality of human nature and provides for the rights and responsibilities of both the man and the woman.
"Although temporary marriage has always existed in our law,it is considered improper by Iranian culture," Shadi Sadr, an Iranian activist for women rights, told the ISNA news agency.
Pourmohammadi spoke on Thursday in Qom, Iran's religious centre, and his comments were carried mainly by reformist dailies on Saturday. They also published reaction, mostly from opponents of the practice but also from some clerical backers.
"Islam is a comprehensive and complete religion and has a solution for every behaviour and need and temporary marriage is one of its solutions for the needs of the youth," Pourmohammadi said according to the Sharq daily.
"For fulfilling the sexual desires of the youth who do not have the possibility to get married a decision should be taken."
A temporary marriage is easy to arrange. A couple will agree on how long they will get married - it's usually anywhere from a day to months - and on financial matters.
Couples often go to a Shiite cleric for approval of the contract. The practice is believed to have pre-dated Islam among the tribes of the Arabian peninsula.
"A great number of women who agree to have temporary marriage do it because of their problems and financial need," another women activist, Fatemeh Sadeghi, told ISNA.
The Ham Mihan daily quoted a receptionist at a hotel in Tehran as saying it accepted couples with documents showing they were temporarily married and that it had about 100 such guests per week. "Our clients are young men with older women," he said.
Both Sunni and Shiite scholars agree that the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) did at certain times allow it. But Sunni scholars say the Prophet later banned it. Most Shi'ites say he didn't.
"In this kind of marriage there is no force, therefore we can not say it is violating women's rights," one Iranian cleric, Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Ghabel, told Sharq.
But a female former parliamentary deputy, Fatemeh Rakei, suggested that entering into a temporary marriage made it difficult for young women to later find permanent husbands and also expressed concern about the future of children from such marriages.
"We should expect violations and repercussions if we do not practically respond to young people's sexual needs," the centrist Kargozaran daily quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi as saying.
Seminary study
Pourmohammadi said Iran should seek to promote the practice with "boldness" and urged seminary scholars to study the matter and come up with ways to "execute God's command in society".
"We should not be afraid of promoting temporary marriages in a nation that is being governed by the rule of God."
Critics condemn 'sigha' as tantamount to prostitution, but clerics argue it is merely a more spiritual way of addressing basic human urges.
Sixty per cent of Iran's population is under 30 years of age and the average age of marriage has risen to 30 for men and 26 for women, according to unofficial estimates.
As the saying goes...if it walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, well then IT'S A DUCK.
SIGHA = PROSTITUTION
Never mind that King Fahd used to do this all the freakin time.
If Satan were to invent a religion that was intended to seduce people away from the path that leads to eternal salvation, what would that religion look like?
Man...this puts a new light on trying to find those 72 virgins Muslim males are dying to meet.
The only difference between Sigha and prostitution is that the cleric gets a cut with sigha.
I think I read that the woman was supposed to wait 3 months or at least until she had her period after the “divorce” so that any child would belong to the right father - but I doubt lust-afflicted 15 year old boys, or 32 year old men for that matter, are paying their brides enough to live on for a few weeks or a few months.
Mrs VS
Isn’t this practice similar to the old Scottish ritual of handfasting?
Gee.
Looks like the 1 hour marriage license will soon be quite the hot item in Iran.
I think I need to buy stock in the outfit that sells them.
“handfasting”
Maybe these “lustful 15 yr olds” should do more of this, instead.
“I don’t think that word means what you think it means...”
:)
Sexuality of muslim men (this is from first hand observations):
1. “Men and boys are for pleasure and women are for (male) babies.”
2. It is not homosexual activity if you are the “pitcher” or the one “penetrating.”
3. Non-muslim women are all whores and prostitutes
4. Sex with non-muslim women doesn’t count (as cheating) because they are infidels
5. If a muslim women is raped, it is her fault (she should have fought back harder)
6. It is OK to marry 13 year olds and have up to 4 wives. It is OK to divorce a wife once she gets too old and add a younger bride to your “stable”
7. It is OK to “marry” a muslim woman, have sex with her and them divorce her - it is called a “pleasure marriage” or Temporary marriage (or sigha). The local Mullah gets a cut of the cost of the marriage. He actually is the pimp.
This is their mindset. The quicker you understand this the better you will comprehend their bizarre behavior...
No, I think you are thinking of “Telltown marriages.”
Believe it or not, this little spat is one of the big reasons these two sects of Islam have been killing each other for centuries....
I guess then multiple temporary marriages would cover the orgy parties (e.g. time-sensitive harem encounters).
Hand out sheep for the men and dildoes for the women.
Okay....I assume the “guy” is the one with a mustache........Now I know why they prefer sheep........
Like they need a reason...
Whatever happened to chastity in their religion?
And what about a temporary sigha for the needs of the "youthful" needs of gluttony, sloth, pride, anger, greed..
They came up with this idea, of course, after listening to illegal immigration supporters explain why amnesty isn’t amnesty.
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