Iran official backs temporary marriage
Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2007 7:16 pm
If it stops the Noble Knights in Jaish al-Dajjal and other Shiite death squads from raping innocent Iraqi women and children, then I support it:
Iran official backs temporary marriage
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI,
Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 2, 9:02 PM ET
TEHRAN, Iran - 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.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070603/ap_ ... marriage_1
