Mutaa Marriage Increasing in Iraq

Add one more crack to the already fractured Iraqi society -- a resurgence of temporary marriage. The Washington Post reports that the practice has "regained popularity since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq brought the majority Shiites to power." I had heard about this practice among Shiites before and am aware that it is a sticking point between the Sunni and Shi'a. But that's not where I want to go with this post. I'd rather focus on the utter irresponsibility of the adults engaging in this practice at a time and in a place where their attention should be on providing a more permanent and stable environment for the children that are already suffering!

With the Arab proprensity to exaggerate and the American need to hide the truth, I doubt the figures from both sides regarding the civilian casualties in Iraq. That they are staggeringly high, I have no doubt. That countless numbers of children are left without at least one parent, I am certain. That these children are suffering under the weight of both occupation and poverty is a given. Why then would a sheikh, a supposedly pious man, enter into 15 temporary marriages so that he could have 15 virgins rather than marry 1,2,3, or 4 widows with children? Think about it from a financial perspective. If he paid a mahr, which he had to have done 15 times over, he could have easily supported at least 2 wives in relative comfort for a few years! Now that his "permanent" wife is pregnant and unable to have sex with him, he goes and enters into yet another "temporary" marriage. Why not take a second wife -- again, a widow with children who need support? Or better yet, why not fast, pray, take a few cold showers, and use the money that he would have given to a "temporary" wife to a widow so that she could feed, clothe, and provide shelter to her children?

If marriage completes half of our religion, is it wise to classify it as "temporary" and toss it away so easily?