Iranian Minister Calls for Temporary Marriages

[Ed Palmer]

AND THEY SAY WE ARE THE ONES THAT ARE SCREWED UP



Iranian Minister Calls for Temporary Marriages to Fulfill Sexual Desires






Iran's hard-line interior minister is encouraging temporary marriages as a way to avoid extramarital sex, a stance many in this conservative country fear would instead encourage prostitution.

A temporary marriage, or "sigheh," refers to a Shiite Muslim tradition under which a man and a woman sign a contract that allows them to be "married" for any length of time, even a few hours. An exchange of money, as a sort of dowry, is often involved.

Although the practice exists, it's not very common in Iran, a Shiite majority nation where many consider it a license for prostitution. Others, however, have advocated institutionalizing the tradition, saying it would help fight "illicit" sex in a country where sexual relations outside marriage are banned under Islamic law.

"Temporary marriage is God's rule. We must aggressively encourage that," state-run television quoted Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi as saying.

The minister, who made his comments Thursday, was the first Iranian official to support the disputed practice in more than a decade. Former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani raised the issue in the early 1990s but was opposed by the country's hard-line clerics.

"We have to find a solution to meet the sexual desire of the youth who have no possibility of marriage," Pourmohammadi was quoted as saying by local newspapers.

Half of Iran's population of 70 million is under 30. Taxi driver Reza Sarabi, 23, expressed the frustration of many young Iranian men who can't afford to buy a house and get married.

"I have no money to set up a matrimonial life. I don't want prostitutes. What should I do with my sexual needs?" he said.


(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...

[yellowwing]

Half of Iran's population of 70 million...
That's it? 70 million sexually frustrated barely third world SOBs. We can take them over a long week end!

[Sgt Leprechaun]

Actually, this is in the Koran. Not a big surprise.

[candi]

That was a joke right?

[Ed Palmer]

NOPE READ ON

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.