Will A Free Iraq Mean An End To The Sanctity Of Marriage??

[Shwicaz]

NAJAF, Iraq -- She is a 49-year-old divorced mother of seven children. He is a well-off farmer, with his own wife and children. Theirs is a secret betrothal, with perfunctory vows exchanged alone in a bedroom for an ephemeral union.

''Mutaa," a 1,400-year-old tradition alternately known as pleasure marriage and temporary marriage, is regaining popularity among Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslim population after decades of being outlawed by the Sunni regime of Saddam Hussein.

According to Shi'ite religious law, unmarried women may enter into pleasure marriages with men (married or not) for periods as brief as a few minutes or as long as a lifetime. Dowries, too, range from virtually nothing to millions of Iraqi dinars.

Shi'ite clerics, including Iraq's highest religious authority, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, have sanctioned mutaa despite the social stigma attached to the marriages.

Women's activists in Iraq last year fought an effort by constitution drafters to endorse some form of Sharia, or Islamic law, in matters of marriage and family. The new national charter includes an article that allows Iraqis to choose their marital status according to their beliefs, and reinforces the primacy of civil authority in family law.

Full article:

http://www.boston.com/news/world/mid...p1=MEWell_Pos4


What an unexpected result of freedom.

[MattJohnson]

That's awesome!

[Gunter]

I've had a few "mutaa's" in my life.

[alexlannin]

interesting twist

[Ray G.]

Heh. Well, we can at least say we accomplished that.

[Shwicaz]

I am surprised more people haven't commented.

They must think its a parody thread or something.

[MIKE D]

"Mutaa" is Arabic for "goomara".

[stevapalooza]

And theyre worried about us corrupting their morals?

Oh yeah another fact about Muslims-- every seven years Muslims males go thru what they call "pon far" where they must go back to Mecca and find a mate or they will die.

[NATE!]

And theyre worried about us corrupting their morals?

Oh yeah another fact about Muslims-- every seven years Muslims males go thru what they call "pon far" where they must go back to Mecca and find a mate or they will die.

So they're related to the vulcans?????

[stevapalooza]

So they're related to the vulcans?????

Sure. Where do you think Roddenbery got it? Vulcans are just space Muslims.