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August 4, 2006

Indonesia: Five Saudis Deported For Muslim "Prostitution" Marriage

One of the strangest aspects of Islam's treatment of women is "mut'ah" marriage, which allows a Muslim man to take up with a part-time wife for a short contract. At the end of the agreed period, the man no longer has any responsibility for the woman. In effect, it is legalised prostitution. The Bahraini feminist Ghada Jamshir has condemned mut'ah marriage.

She said on al-Arabiya TV on December 21, 2005 of mut'ah that it is, in practice, a form of child abuse:

Ghada Jamshir: "This is a violation of children's rights! This constitutes sexual assault of the girl. What does 'pleasure from sexual contact with her thighs' mean? It means deriving sexual pleasure from an infant. How old is an infant? One year, a year and a half, a few months?

"Is it conceivable for a grown man to have sex with an infant girl? And you people tell me that the Islamic Shari'a authorizes this? Forget about the mut'ah. Let's talk about misyar. What do misyar marriages mean? You said that I'm a Sunni and that's why I'm attacking the Shiites. No!"

Misyar marriage, sometimes referred to as "traveler's marriage" is even worse, as it means the husband does not live with the wife, and has no responsibility financially for her, and can divorce her at any time. Misyar was first observed amongst Sunnis in Egypt in the early 19th century. It is now common in Egypt. In Saudi Arabia, the Salafist Grand Mufti from 1993 to 1999, Ibn Baaz, gave his approval for misyar.

Mut'ah marriage, which is mainly practised by Shia, is described in the Koran in Surah 4 (The Women) verse 24:

Also married women (are forbidden to you in marriage), except those whom you own as slaves. Such is the decree of God. All women other than these are lawful for you, provided you court them with your wealth in modest conduct, not in fornication. Give them their dowry for the enjoyment you have had of them as a duty; but it shall be no offense for you to make any other agreement among yourselves after you have fulfilled your duty. Surely God is all-knowing and wise.

Misyar marriage became legal first in Egypt, where it is called urfi and then Saudi Arabia. On April 12 the Islamic Jurisprdence Assembly, based in Mecca, issued a fatwa, allowing misyar marriages. Yusuf al Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood has also given his blessing to misyar marriage.

The consequences of such temporary marriages, when embarked upon irresponsibly, are horrendous. We reported on April 10 of a 45-year old Singapore Muslim who had used serial mut'ah marriages to father more than 48 children. He was subsequently jailed for forcing six of his daughters to have sex with him.

We reported on April 25 that sociologist Amanollah Gharaii Moghaddam had said that prostitution was on the rise in predominantly Shia Tehran. He said of mut'ah marriages (called sighe in Iran): "Short-term marriages are a form of legalised prostitution. A state must not and cannot legitimise prostitution."

We also reported on June 30 that, while in Malaysia, Indonesia's vice president Jusuf Kalla said that he saw nothing wrong with Arab men paying local women to marry, then divorcing them days or hours later. Kalla (pictured, right) said such a practice could boost tourism. The remarks were made at a travel industry seminar which was attempting to attract more Arab visitors to Indonesia.

Now, even though the Indonesian vice president subsequently claimed the statements were not to be taken seriously, it appears that at least five Arab men from Saudi Arabia have taken Kalla's comments at face value, and created a scandal in Indonesia, according to Jakarta Post and Arab News.

Puncak is a hilltop tourist resort in the west of Java on Indonesia south of Jakarta, near Bogor. Five Saudi men staying in the resort were reported to the Indonesian authorities by local residents, shocked by the Saudis' conduct. They were detained in raids on Monday and Tuesday night.

The five men: Sulaeman Saud A Altraigi, Saad Mousa A Alshamrani, Abdul Rahman Awad A Alshamrani, Mohamad Abdulah Al Muhana and Falleh bin Nghaimesh bin Mahana Al Harbi were deported on Wednesday by Bogor Immigration Office.

All five men, who only had temporary visas, were said to have broken the terms of both the 1974 Marriage Act and immigration law. They had become "temporarily" married to local women in the resort. The temporary marriage is known in Indonesia as kawin kontrak.

Two other men are still being detained.

The head of the local immigration office, Suharyanto, said: "This country forbids people to engage in contractual marriages, which I'm sure is the same as in their country of origin. Moreover, they have misused their tourist visas by getting married instead of just spending their time on vacation."

Suharyonto said his officers in conjunction with Bogor police arrested the five Saudis and their wives in three villas in Puncak.

The authorities vowed to continue to crack down on kawin kontrak marriages in Tugu Utara and Tugu Selatan, areas of the district of Cisarua, where the practice is said to be most common.

The official said: "We will hold a regular operation at residential areas, especially during the holiday season from June to August when most tourists come to stay. I know it's not easy to eliminate contractual marriage practices because it has been going on for quite some time and is seemingly protected by locals."

Yeyet Oking, chief of Bogor district's immigration office, said that "the short-term marriages are an act of disrespect for our marriage law and institution of marriage... Short-term weddings, which are not recognized by the state in Indonesia, had been practiced for years in several Indonesian cities and towns including Puncak and are a cause for concern among local people."

Oking said that in such marriages it is usual for local clerics to bless unions between the local women and their temporary foreign husbands.

Women's groups have condemned the temporary marriages, calling them legalised prostitution, though strictly speaking, they are not legal in Indonesia. Women's rights activists had severely criticised Jusuf Kalla earlier for his comments apparently encouraging the practice.

Arab News says that the five men who were deported claimed that they had opted for the misyar marriages not knowing that they were illegal in Indonesia.

Ironically, although misyar marriages are legal in Saudi Arabia and only a few other countries, mut'ah marriages are banned in the Saudi Kingdom.

Further reading on Muslim temporary marriages:

http://answering-islam.org.uk/Index/M/misyar.html
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=64891
http://www.islamonline.net/English/family/2005/07/article04.shtml
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/saudi_marriage_dc

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at August 4, 2006 1:23 AM

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Posted by: Cadiz at August 5, 2006 6:59 AM

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