06 June 2007

Iran encourages temporary marriages

The Interior Minister of Iran, Mustafa Pour-Mohammadi, who is a Shi'ite cleric, is encouraging Iranians to contract temporary marriages, which are seen as a legitimate form of marriage in Shi'ite Islam. Pour-Mohammadi has called for greater social acceptance of termporary marriages, which many Iranians (about 90% of whom are Shi'ites) see as being little better than prostitution. The minister is also urging Iranians to get married at an earlier age.

Pour-Mohammadi was challenged by a female MP, who asked the minister if he would reveal the number of temporary marriages his daughter had been in to a man seeking to become her permanent husband.

There are currently tens of thousands of children born of such unions in Iran who are stuck in a legal limbo: as products of a marriage recognised by Shi'ite fiqh (understanding of the Shari'a), they are legitimate in law, but their fathers often tend to deny ever having married their mothers, which makes them illegitimate de facto (BBC).

No comments:

Something Even More Magical

In other news...