'Pleasure marriages' regain popularity in Iraq - Yahoo! News

'Pleasure marriages' regain popularity in Iraq - Yahoo! News:

"Al-Zaidi hopes to soon finalize his third muta'a, or 'pleasure marriage,' with a green-eyed neighbor. This time, he talks about it openly and with obvious relish. Even so, he says, he probably still won't tell his wife.

The 1,400-year-old practice of muta'a- 'ecstasy' in Arabic - is as old as Islam itself. It was permitted by the prophet Mohammed as a way to ensure a respectable means of income for widowed women.

Pleasure marriages were outlawed under
Saddam Hussein but have begun to flourish again. The contracts, lasting anywhere from one hour to 10 years, generally stipulate that the man will pay the woman in exchange for sexual intimacy."