essay
Temporary marriage: an Islamic discourse on female sexuality in Iran
In the eye of the storm : women in post-revolutionary Iran • London • Published In 1994 • Pages: 98-114, 203-207
By: Haeri, Shahla.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
In this paper, Haeri discusses the fate in the new Islamic Republic of the legal and religiously sanctioned institution of temporary marriage. Shi'ism accommodated male sexuality by permitting such institutions as polygyny, slave concubinage, and temporary marriage. In temporary marriage, a man and woman agree to marry each other for a limited time (one hour to 99 years.) A brideprice may be exchanged. After the prescribed time, the couple may part company without need of a divorce settlement. Any children produced from this union have full legal status and the contract is renewable. Temporary marriage has an ambivalent status in modern times, viewed as either legalized prostitution or a progressive and morally superior counterpart to Western 'free' gender relations. Middle-class women see temporary marriage as degrading. Lower-class divorced women, who are shunned by their natal families, see it as a way to escape the stigma of divorce. The new Islamic regime has attempted to reintroduce temporary marriage along with the veil, the symbol of female chastity. However, in the modern reconfiguration of temporary marriage, female sexuality and desire is recognized along with male sexuality, which some clerics find offensive. According to Haeri, middle-class urban women are hesitant to embrace the autonomy conferred by temporary marriage.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Basis of marriage
- Mode of marriage
- Theological systems
- General sex restrictions
- Premarital sex relations
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Iran
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2000
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Middle East
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Middle East
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Ian Skoggard ; 2005
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1978-1981
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1925-1990
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Iran
- NotesAdditional notes
- Shahla Haeri
- Includes bibliographical references
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 93049077
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Iranians