Women, Islam, and Marriage

Women do not fare very well under Islam. Talk about a patriarchal religion; this is arguably the most misogynist religion in existence today. Women are treated at best as second class citizens, and the whole culture is designed to exalt men and gratify all their desires.

This is certainly the case when it comes to marriage. Not only is polygamy of course sanctioned and endorsed, but we have other types of marriage in Islam. There are both permanent and temporary marriages found there. Even the permanent ones can be dissolved in an instant at the whim of the husband. He simply has to say “I divorce you” three times and he is free of his wife.

And only the man can initiate a divorce in Islam. But it is the temporary marriages I wish to draw your attention to here. These are practiced by both Sunni and Shiite Muslims. There is a secretive marriage called urfi which is not registered in the courts, and there is what is known as “pleasure marriage” or mutaa.

The latter is basically an Islamic-sanctioned one night stand. It can be as short as an hour-long “marriage” and it basically turns the woman into a prostitute. There is of course Koranic justification for these temporary marriages. The chief text is Sura 4:24. One English translation renders it this way:

“And all married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful unto you are all beyond those mentioned, so that ye seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those of whom ye seek content (by marrying them), give unto them their portions as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what ye do by mutual agreement after the duty (hath been done). Lo! Allah is ever Knower, Wise.”

Nonie Darwish mentions how differing interpretations of this text exist, but concludes this way: “The Qur’an, without all the dressed-up interpretations, has given a man immense sexual rights over women, even with those whom he captures in war or who are in his house as slaves right in the presence of his wife or wives.”

The hadith also condone these temporary marriages, and we see it being practiced in various Islamic countries even today. Bukhari for example says, “While we were in an army, Allah’s Messenger came to us and said, ‘You have been allowed to do the Mut’a (marriage), so do it.”

But while we might expect such practices to occur in Muslim-majority countries, we in fact see them occurring in the West as well. Indeed there are even websites available for this, such as “Mutah Matchmaker” and “ShiaMatch”. See here for example:
http://www.mutah.com/how_do_i_do_mutah.htm
http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/234973979-what-is-mutah/

But here I will spend the remainder of this article on the situation in Britain. There we find that such mutah marriages are on the rise. One article, based in part on a BBC documentary on this, is quite alarming. It begins: “The proliferation of ‘temporary marriages’ shows how Muslims in Britain are using Islamic Sharia Law to establish parallel forms of marriage that are otherwise illegal. An increasing number of Muslims in Britain are reviving the Islamic practice of temporary marriage, according to a recent BBC television documentary focusing on the ‘taboo subject.’

“Temporary marriage – a euphemism for religiously sanctioned prostitution – is an Islamic custom that unites a man and an unmarried woman as ‘husband and wife’ for a limited period of time (sometimes for less than half an hour). The proliferation of temporary marriages – combined with the spike in polygamous marriages – shows how Muslims in Britain are using Islamic Sharia law with impunity to establish parallel forms of ‘marriage’ that are otherwise illegal for non-Muslims in the country.

“The 30-minute documentary examining temporary marriages in Britain is called ‘Married for a Minute’ and first aired on the BBC on May 13. Called Nikah al-Mutah (‘short-term marriage’) in Arabic, the union consists of a verbal or written contract in which both parties agree to the length of time and conditions for the marriage. The union can last for a few minutes or a few years and when the contract ends so does the marriage. The ‘wives’ in such unions are not counted toward the maximum of four, and the offspring, if any, are often the exclusive responsibility of the woman.

“Also known as a ‘pleasure marriage,’ Mutah was established within Islam by the Muslim prophet Mohammed himself as a way to reward his jihadists for services rendered to Allah. Although Mutah is sanctioned by the Koranic verse 4:24, the practice was later outlawed by the second Muslim Caliph, Omar I (634-644), who said he viewed temporary marriage as legalized adultery and fornication.

“Because of the informal nature of temporary marriage, there are no official statistics to show how many of these unions there are in Britain. But Islamic scholars interviewed by the BBC say the practice is widespread, and anecdotal evidence suggests it is especially popular among the younger generation of Muslims in England and Wales. In Luton, a heavily Islamized city situated 50 km (30 miles) north of London, temporary marriage has become so commonplace that it has been referred to as ‘wife swapping’.”

The article concludes, “Critics of these informal marriages – with men, both Sunni and Shia – taking on multiple ‘wives’ for a number of hours – argue that they allow a Muslim man to have innumerable sexual partners (often underage girls), who are used as an ‘Islamic cover’ for prostitution and the exploitation of women.

“According to Khola Hasan, ‘There is no difference between Mutah marriage and prostitution. There is a time limit on the marriage, and the mahr [payment] given as a mandatory gift [from the man to the woman] is the equivalent as a payment to a prostitute.’ The BBC documentary concludes that temporary marriage is often being used simply as a way of religiously legitimizing sex.

“In an interview with the BBC, Omar Ali Grant, from London, and a convert to Shia Islam, says that he has had around 13 temporary marriages but argues that he was just trying to find the right person to spend his life with. He concedes they could be used as a cover for premarital sex, but adds: ‘Sex is not haram [forbidden] per se. In Islam sex doesn’t have negative connotations; it is not impure and is not dirty. What Islam is saying is sex has to be between consenting adults who are also responsible. Very often it is said that temporary marriage may amount to some prostitution, but it is not that. Prostitution does occur in certain areas of Muslim society, but then again prostitution happens everywhere.’

“According to the Islamic Scholar Mushtaq Lodi, ‘Islamic society has evolved ingenious methods to bypass its own restrictions on premarital sex and promiscuity and to help one avoid committing the serious sin of zina – sex outside of marriage, which is considered illicit and calls for a very heavy penalty. The sole object of the Misyar and Mutah marriages is for sexual gratification in a licit manner. Like most practices in Islamic society, this is also skewed in favor of the male’.”

In the light of all this, it should come as no surprise whatsoever that throughout Britain and the West, Muslims are pushing for sharia law, including their own sharia family law courts. They know such religiously-sanctioned prostitution would not wash here, so they want their own legal system to allow this and other dodgy activities to take place.

So who says creeping sharia is not a real threat to the West?

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3748/uk-islamic-temporary-marriages

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