The origin of temporary marriage is in the early days of Islam, when warriors
would go to faraway battles and not return home for several months or even
years. During this period, they were permitted to enter into temporary
marriages which could be dissolved after an agreed-upon period by the man
simply proclaiming the end of the arrangement.
Since Islam allows polygamy up to four wives, this was not considered a radical
departure from the rules of the Koran.
Whatever you think of the original arrangement, it is mightily abused today in
Iran. Mullahs who are traveling on pilgrimages routinely take temporary wives,
sometimes for a week, sometimes for a day, sometimes for a few hours. In the
West we call this prostitution.
In Iran it is hallowed by the name of sigheh and it has the full sanction of
the law. One can only imagine the plight of poor women in Iran who are driven
by necessity to become de facto prostitutes. I'm sure there are some at the
ACLU and on the left who would say the women are noble "sex workers" whose only
deprivation is that they are not paid the minimum wage. They are, after all,
consenting adults. But anyone who believes in female dignity and family values
has to consider sigheh a complete scandal.
I'm curious how a fellow like Ahmadinejad, who likes to portray himself as a
defender of human dignity and of the Muslim family, would respond to what his
mullah friends are doing on a regular basis. These abuses of power--financial,
political, sexual--are more likely to discredit and ultimately bring down the
regime of the mullahs than all the "tough questions" about nuclear weapons and
the Holocaust.
