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iran and Temporary
Marriage
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Exploring the
Different Aspects of Temporary Marriage in Iran
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Bidushi
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5/29/2012
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On my honor, I pledge that I
have neither given nor taken improper assistance in completing this task.
Bidushi Adhikari
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Embarrassed to the bone, the woman refuses to give her
name to the curious interviewer. A mother of three, she was hopelessly abandoned
by her gay husband. Then, one day, a Shiite religious cleric working in Najaf,
Iran, who had promised to help her with her financial crisis, brings her home,
has sex with her behind a locked door, and gives her $15. She leaves, eyes
flooding with tears, her heart contracting in her chest, clutching the money in
her hands, the money that is so necessary for her survival in a tough
world. What was this about? Well, a
temporary marriage.
We have heard it many times: marriage is a bond of
love. It is a very special bond that ties two people together for as long as
they live, or at least it’s supposed to. Marriage is a treaty between two
people to love and cherish each other with every fibre of ones body. Therefore,
when one hears of temporary marriage, as is this case in Iran, certain
questions start to arise. First of all, it is worth knowing what temporary marriage
is. The Qur’an refers to muta’ah in Arabic or sigheh in Farsi in
these words: “And you are allowed to seek out
wives with your wealth in decorous conduct, but not in fornication, but give
them their reward for what you have enjoyed of them in keeping with your
promise (4:24).” It
began when Muhammad, the prophet in the Muslim culture, gave permission to men
who travel far from home to rent out women and use them to fulfill the men’s
sexual needs while they were away from their wives back home. This was a way
for the men to avoid fornication. They had to “purchase” the women and the days
they wished to hire these women. And as for the present, temporary marriage still
exists as a contract between a man and an unmarried woman, bonus if she is a
virgin, who agree to marry each other for as long as they want, which can range
from a few minutes to many years, and decide how much money should be given to
the temporary wife; the woman is being rented out by a man without being
legally convicted for it by law, where the penalty of having sex outside of
marriage is a 100 lashes. The marriage
need not be officially registered and is wholly permitted in accordance to the
Shiria law. It gives men a chance “to do it entirely on
their own if they felt shy about going to a mullah to register the Union,” as
stated by President Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1990. Additionally, the “husband” has the power to call off
the arrangement whenever and under whatever circumstances he pleases.
All in all, it seems to be an advantageous agreement.
The man gets out of being in a relationship that he could not afford. He does
not have to commit to anything and can have multiple sex partners
simultaneously if he pleases. For divorcees, it is a legal way to fulfil the
passion that seemed to be dying out without a partner. For couples who are
discovering the magic of the bond between a man and a woman, it is a way to get
a preview of a permanent marriage.
However, there is a constant debate in between
believers of Islam about the legitimacy of mut’a. Shiite
and Sunnis, the two different branches of Islam, have opposing views regarding
the subject. Twelver Shi’ite Islam, the dominant religion in Iran, supports the
fact that, since the Quran permits it, mut’ah should not be banned or
opposed. However, Sunni Muslims see mut’ah as a form of prostitution.
Sunnis do believe that, originally, Muhammad did allow temporary marriages to
make place for Muslim men who were either travelling, who couldn’t settle down
just yet, or “military campaign or commercial journeys,” as stated by Malcolm
Clark in the book Islam for Dummies[1].
They admit that it proved to be better than adultery, but they strongly claim
that Muhammad later took back his words about temporary marriage, comparing it
to other situations like drinking alcohol, which was previously banned but
later allowed by Muhammad himself. However, as Clark further points out,
Shi’ites stay firm about their beliefs and claim that Umar, the second
successor of Muhammad, was the one who spoke about banning temporary marriage.
Because believers of Shi’ites are not obliged to his words, they believe that
the prohibition does not apply to them.
There is an important reason why Twelver Shiite
support temporary marriage. Firstly, it is crucial to note that the women
involved with these marriages are usually in a deep financial crisis. Nagham
Kadhim, who runs a women’s rights group in Nafaq, says, “’The muta’ah
marriage happens when there is an economic factor, like when the woman is poor
and [does] not have money[2].’” Massoumeh Pareesh, a researcher in temporary marriages and Women’s
Affairs, adds that “’ Usually women who
submitted to temporary marriages had experienced some kind of family trauma or
had gone through serious divorce and domestic problems[3].’” In the eyes of a judgemental Islamic
society, these women have lost all their virtue and honour because they have
lost the status as the “ideal Muslim women,” which refer to the society’s
expected norm of an average Muslim woman. They have fallen to the very pits of
the sexually-orientated hierarchy, which associates virgins with honour, class,
and considers them an eligible marriage candidate, who may receive a grateful amount,
is mahr, or the mandatory gift a husband offers his newlywed wife, often
in the form of money, and non-virgins with dishonour and disgust. Therefore,
Iranian clerics believed that temporary marriage “provides [these women] with a
relief, or an escape[4].”
However, to many activists, this proves to be a very
controversial decision because temporary marriage is strictly temporary and
mainly revolves around the man’s pleasure and pleasing. It has shown to be very
disadvantageous to women involved in such relationships. The woman has
absolutely no say in the relationship, like wishing to terminate the agreement,
and is used as an object to derive pleasure from. Because the marriage is not
registered, it may also be hard for her children from a permanent marriage to
receive an education because she is not able to prove paternity, and her
temporary marriage relationship becomes, ultimately, useless in such cases.
Additionally, children that may have been products of a temporary marriage are
immediately handed over to the care of the father, with full legitimacy. Women’s
rights are further abused because, as a first spouse, she may be completely
unaware of the fact that her husband is involved in many other sexual
relationships with other women. MP Sattar Hedayatkhak quotes in a reformist
newspaper Etemaad, saying that “From tomorrow, no woman can be sure that her
husband is not in a sexual relationship with another woman. Therefore, there is
now no difference between here and the west. Anyone can have a sexual
relationship with someone without the need to prove that there has been a
temporary marriage agreement.” He compares the situation to the West, saying
that now, there is no way to keep track of the sexual partners of a man, just
like how it is in the West. Additionally, to engage in a permanent relationship
with other women, the man first had to be permitted by his first spouse. However,
in temporary marriages, that need not be done. Furthermore, since men have to
pay their temporary wives, the first spouse of their marriages may have to deal
with an unfair financial crisis. Aside from these disadvantages, temporary
marriages “have been used as loopholes for ... human trafficking,” as Shoshi Shmuluvitz talks about in her
article “Temporary Marriage in Iran: Exploitative or Liberating?” She adds that
“poor
families effectively sell their daughters to wealthy visiting foreign men in
order to obtain the mahr[5]”
and deal with their financial crisis.
These
are not the only abuses women face because of temporary marriage. Ayatollah
Khatami, former leader of Iran, himself said that “a woman who has been temporarily
married in exchange for a previsouly established dowry ahas no right to demand
that her daily expenses be ppaid by her husband, even when she becomes
pregnant.” The woman is left to fend for herself. Men, who are in the highest
of positions, abuse these rights and buy little girls under the “Marriage for
Minutes” contract, using them for sexual pleasures.
After a Bill was passed by the Legal and Judicial
Commission of Parliament of Iran in August 2007 encouraging polygamy, making it
easier for men to engage in temporary marriages, and degrading women’s rights,
many women activists labelled the bill as an “anti-family Bill” for obvious
reasons and rebelled against the promotion of temporary marriages. Questions
were raised about how such a bond manages to provide women with happiness when
they are being used as objects of pleasure without any commitment. Feminists
have called this practice “legalized prostitution” which works grandly in
favour for the men involved in such relationships. Supporters of temporary
marriage, however, argue back, claiming that temporary marriage is an
“alternative to the ‘free love’ of the West” and explain that it is much easier
to control because it is legalized[6].
As Shmuluvitz
talked about in her article, temporary marriage has left several loopholes for
girls to be trafficked for sexual exploitation. Iran Rooyan, a non-political
NGO, reports that experts from Iran claim that “the primary cover used for the
sale of many of these girls into prostitution by their own family is temporary
marriage[7].”
These girls, who range from early adolescents to women past their 30s, are
trafficked “for the purposes of forced prostitution and forced marriage” to
places like Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar, the United Kingdom, France and Germany
amongst many others. Additionally, the exact number of girls and women involved
in temporary marriages are not certain because in March, 2012, MPs passed a law
which dictates that unless under special circumstances, like the production of
a child, temporary marriages need not be reported to the government or formally
be registered. Therefore, it is hard for agencies in Iran to give a close
approximation of the number of couples engaged in temporary marriages.
Not only human trafficking, but
temporary marriages have led way to the establishment of brothels in various
parts of the country and especially in the capital, Tehran. In June 2010, the
government of Iran granted permission to create one-day, temporary marriages in
certain places to “eliminate the problem of rape and sexual repression suffered
by the Iranian youth[8].’”
This license allows any Iranian or foreigner to retire to a house and hire a
girl to have sex with with when and if she agrees to temporarily marry him. The
low prices for these nights spent together range from $20 to $50, making it
even more affordable for various parties. Since these destinations are
certainly popular amongst officials and Shiite clerics, brothels are being
built near holy sites so that “male pilgrims can ‘relieve their urges’ while on
a ‘religious’ pilgrimage[9].”
With all this injustice, however, resistance and
protest against this law is still ongoing in Iran. Not everybody, especially
the more educated ones, agrees with the concept of temporary marriages and some
still fight against it. For example, Leila Asadi, a human rights professor at
University of Mary Washington, is women’s rights activist. During the time she
lived in Iran as an international-law professor and an activist, she felt
threatened and was, like many other journalists and activists in Iran, incline
to move to the United States. She was fighting for the extremely low age, 13,
of marriage for young girls, the concept of polygamy being encouraged by the
government, and the Family Protection Law supporting temporary marriages[10]. In
2011, in Iran, Asadi presented to the United Nations Commission papers on the
Status of Women in Iran. She spoke of the large scales of violence that occur
against child brides and was thrown into jail for doing so. Additionally, women
who are in power in Iran strongly speak out against temporary marriages too.
Rafat Bayat, a noted, fundamentalist female MP, questioned the minister in
2007, saying “’Do you accept, yourself, to tell to your daughter’s suitor that
your daughter has already made temporary marriage several times?[11]’” She
has raised the question regarding the future of a girl involved in temporary
marriage, after which she no longer remains legitimate to marry permanently due
to her loss of virginity.
Internationally renounced organizations, such as
Amnesty International, are also trying their hardest to raise awareness about
the Family Protection Bill being passed. In March 2012, Amnesty International
released a detailed analysis of Iran’s human rights status. In the report,
entitled “Iran: Submission To the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights,” the report highlighted the fact that “there are no provisions in law
to ensure that ‘temporary marriages’ ... are not sued to circumvent the
prohibition on early and forced marriage.” For example, in 2010, many women who
opposed the articles of the bill went on a journey around Iran, talking to
women who had been severely affected by their husbands marrying for the second
time, and many a times, engaging in a temporary marriage. These stories of
women were written down on pieces of cloth, which were then stitched up to form
a big banner-like quilt that is now called “Chehel Tikeh” or “Forty Pieces.” Then,
gathering another list of 15,000 signatures from women who opposed the law and
alongside of the banner, these women went to the Parliament, asking it to
remove the bill from the constitution that promoted polygamy. The parliament refused
to accept the banner and, as of March 2012, it is still being discussed by the
Parliament[12].
It has been harder for women to implement their biddings also because they are
hardly being represented in the government. The women in the Parliament of Iran
are almost as conservative as the men, and therefore, they support the
legislation.
The media and film industry have also been part of the
resistance against temporary marriage. Recently, Afghan actress Reha Zamani and
Director Aisha K have joined forces to create a film, called Frishteh, that
speaks about the controversial issue of temporary marriage in Muslim societies.
Aisha K. believes that “through cinema, I am able to give a powerful voice to
the marginalized communities of the world[13].”
Throughout Iran, temporary marriage has been an issue
of great concern and debate. Many believe it to be the word of Muhammad while
others argue that it is legal prostitution in disguise. Temporary marriage has promoted
a lot of chaos in the country, from human trafficking to child abuse to
opposition to the government. However, it must be pointed out that temporary
marriage is just a fragment of the troubles that Iran currently faces regarding
women’s rights. In general, the situation of human rights, and specifically
women’s rights, in Iran is very weak and fragile. Women have, reportedly,
lesser rights in Iran than men do, even in a 21st century world.
Therefore, when groups of women come up and fight for the abolition of bills
that encourage temporary marriage, they are, ultimately, fighting for the
rights of women in Iran, for them to be more recognized and not be treated like
second class citizens. The involvement of international organizations and
communities will, hopefully, revive the outdated traditions of Iran and help it
adapt to a modern life in this century, with a strong religious foundation that
carries the modifications of a modern world.
Bibliography:
"Abuse
of Temporary Marriages Flourishes in Iraq." Points of View Reference Center.
EBSCO, 19 Oct.
2010.
Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?sid=76f8cd02-7290-4a57-aea986b11e6464%40sessionmgr12&vid=1&hid=10&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=6XN201010192110>.
Motahari, Farshid. "Iran's Lawmakers Reject
Obligation to Register Temporary
Marriages."Points of View Reference
Center. EBSCO, 05 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?sid=19cdf1a6-7049-496d-9dc1-d38fab2c7dcd%40sessionmgr11&vid=3&bk=1&hid=10&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=2W64219718204>.
"mut'ah." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online
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<http://www.school.ebonline.com/eb/article-9054486>.
<http://www.school.ebonline.com/eb/article-9054486>.
Treble,
Patricia. "Let's Get Married--for an Hour." Points of View Reference Center.
EBSCO, 20 Sept.
2010. 29 May 2012. <http://web.ebscohost.com/pov/detail?sid=0602f144-2205-490c-b894-ac15fe71699e%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=107&bdata=JnNpdGU9cG92LWxpdmU%3d#db=pwh&AN=6XN201010192110>.
Vakalia, Fahima. "Temporary Marriage:
Celebration or Violation of Women’s Rights." World
Poverty and Human Rights Online. 23 Apr. 2010. 29 May 2012. <
<http://wphr.org/blog/2010/04/23/temporary-marriage-celebration-or-violation-of-women%E2%80%99s-rights-4/#_ftn7>.
[1]
Clark, Malcolm. "Islam For
Dummies." Google Books.
29 May 2012.
<http://books.google.com.au/books?id=zPXu561ZpvgC>.
[2]
McEvers, Kelly. "Abuse Of
Temporary Marriages Flourishes In Iraq." NPR.
NPR, 19 Oct. 2010. 29 May 2012.
<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130350678>.
[3]
"Temporary Marriage Has Turned
into a Career and Source of Income in Iran." Planet Iran. Iran Press News, 9
Aug.
2010. 29 May 2012.
<http://planet-iran.com/index.php/news/21112>.
[5]
Shmuluvitz, Shoshi. "Temporary
Marriage in Islam: Exploitative or Liberating?" Diwaniyya Dayan Center Podcast.
11 Mar. 2011. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://diwaniyya.blogspot.in/2012/03/temporary-marriage-in-
islam.html>.
[6]
Ramazani, Nesta. "The Girl
Trade in Shia Iran : LAW OF DESIRE Temporary Marriage in Shi'i Iran by Shahla
Haeri
(Syracuse University Press: $39.95, Cloth; $14.95, Paper; 340
Pp.; 0-8156-2465-4)." Los
Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 29 Oct. 1989. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://articles.latimes.com/1989-10-29/books/bk-101_1_temporary-marriage>.
[7]
"Trafficking Fact Sheet." Iran Rooyan. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://iranrooyan.org/wp-
content/uploads/2011/12/TRAFFICKING-FACT-SHEET-final.pdf>
[8]
"Iran Permits Brothels Through
Temporary Marriages." Al
Bawaba. 7 June 2010. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://www.albawaba.com/behind-news/iran-permits-brothels-through-temporary-marriages>.
[9]
Choudhury, Salah. "Marriage for
Minutes Forces Children into Prostitution in Iran." Weekly Blitz. 30 July 2010.
29 May 2012.
<http://www.weeklyblitz.net/910/marriage-for-minutes-forces-children-into>.
[10]
Umble, Amy Flowers. "Her Fight
for Rights Inspires Students - The News Desk."Fredericksburg.com.
10 Feb. 2012.
Web. 29 May 2012. <http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2012/02/10/her-fight-for-rights-inspires-
students/>
[11]
Tait, Robert. "Iranian Minister
Backs Temporary Marriage to Relieve Lust of Youth." The Guardian. Guardian
News and Media, 03 June 2007. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/jun/04/iran.roberttait>.
[12]
"Iran: Submission To the UN
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights." Amnesty International,
Mar.
2012. Web. 29 May 2012.
<http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/ngos/AI_CESCRWG49_Iran.pdf>.
[13]
"Los Angles Afghan Artists
Tackle Controversial Issue of Temporary Marriage in Iran With Their Film
Farishteh." Yahoo! News.
Yahoo!, 03 May 2012. Web. 29 May 2012. <http://news.yahoo.com/los-angles-afghan-artists-tackle-controversial-issue-temporary-071528253.html>.
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