BBC Exposes Sex Trade in Iraq
Mutah basically enables a man to satisfy any sexual need that he feels that he has and many of the women who engage in it live in societies where they have no rights and are forced into the practice to survive whenever they're abandoned by their husbands or families. From the time of the first Caliphs, leaders in the region have sought to ban this practice. Many people rightfully consider it to be an immoral practice. However, it is considered to be a legal Islamic practice among many clerics of Shiite Islam as they state that the practice was not officially struck down by Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and Shiites often don't recognize the rulings made by many of the later Caliphs. In the nation of Iran, Mutah was officially legalized by the Islamic leaders of the country after the 1979 Revolution. In Iran, women have very few rights, and women who are divorced or widowed often have nowhere to turn to, forcing them to agree to Mutah contracts in order to survive. This creates a vicious cycle as many Iranian men have no desire to take a woman to be a permanent wife if they previously agreed to a Mutah marriage. This forces then to stay in this dangerous life of legalized Prostitution.
The BBC documentary Iraq's Secret Sex Slave, reveals that men who desire a Mutah marriage can go to a Shiite cleric in Iraq and have them arrange such a marriage with any woman that the mas so desires. The man will pay the cleric and the woman for this. Though the practice is officially illegal in Iraq, investigative reporters for the BBC revealed that 8 out of 10 Shiite clerics were willing to engage in selling women and girls (some as young as 9) into Mutah marriages. Sadly, the Iraqi government officials choose to look the other way and allow the practice to continue unhindered. It's not surprising that Shiite Muslims in Britain launched a petition demanding that the BBC stop showing the documentary, insisting that it's insulting to the Shiite faith and does not represent what Shiite Islam teaches (Link to Petition). However, let's consider the logic here. Firstly, the documentary film made no disparaging remarks about Shiite Islam or about everyday people who choose to follow the Shiite faith. It is instead showing a terrible human rights crisis that the Iraqi government is making no effort to correct. When the governments fail to take action, it's up to the people to show the truth and push the authorities to either uphold the existing laws, pass and enforce the laws necessary to stop it, or get rid of the unjust laws that allow it. Second, Should we not report sex scandals by the clergy of other religions simply to avoid offending those who practice the faith? People who have been victims of sexual abuse by prominent individuals in their society would say otherwise. Abuse is abuse, regardless of who is doing it, and you cannot be afraid to expose this abuse regardless of how many people may be adherent to a faith, fans of a team, or employees of a company. If we do not report scandals like this and take action, then the abuse will continue unhindered, and we have a moral obligation not to let that happen. Third, we must ask the question that the BBC did not answer: is this a practice that is sanctioned by the Shiite doctrine?
To answer this third question, we must consider the fact that Mutah is perfectly legal in Iran and the BBC clearly shows it's widely endorsed by Shia clerics in Iraq, so what is their justification for it? As previously mentioned, it's an ancient practice that goes back for well over a thousand years. It was a practice that existed even before the advent of Islam. According to the Islamic Hadith of Sahih Muslim 3250: Caliph Umar I, the powerful and influential 2nd Caliph of the first Islamic Caliphate from 634-644 A.D., abolished the practice of Mutah in the Islamic domain. Other leaders over the centuries have at various times upheld Umar's decree. As a result, many Sunni clerics rule Mut'ah to simply be prostitution. However, many clerics today point out other Hadith along with a Qur'anic verse to challenge the ruling of Umar I and other leaders over the course of history to modern day. These clerics claim in Surah 5:87: O ye who believe! Forbid not the good things which Allah hath made lawful for you, and transgress not, Lo! Allah loveth not transgressors. The context behind this Qur'anic verse, according to Sahih al-Bukhari 5079 is the following: "We used to participate in the holy battles led by Allah's Messenger and we had nothing (no wives) with us. So we said, 'Shall we get ourselves castrated?' He forbade us that and then allowed us to marry a woman temporarily by giving her even a garment and then he recited to us: 'O you who believe! Make not unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you.'" (5.87). Thus many Shiite clerics rule that the words and deeds of Muhammad override those of later Caliphs like Umar and therefore believe that the practice is permissible regardless of what any current government decrees.
Not only is this practice widespread in Iraq, but numerous reports come from nations throughout the Middle East in which it's revealed that women and girls are from impoverished families are sold by their parents into Mutah marriages with wealthy men. Numerous reports have revealed that wealthy men from the Gulf Nations have deliberately visited poor neighborhoods in Egypt seeking out women and girls for Mutah marriages. Young Syrian girls have likewise been sold to wealthy Saudi men in Mutah marriages for many years. The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East has only allowed this practice to continue. So the message to both the BBC, the petitioners, and people as a whole is this: when you learn about an abhorrent practice like this is happening in the world, you have moral obligation to show people what is happening, why it's happening, and push for both leaders and societies in general to unite and bring this abhorrent practices to an end.
Sources:
"British Muslims Demand Removal of BBC Documentary on Islamic Sex Trafficking in Iraq." Acts 17 Apologetics. YouTube: 13:30. Oct. 17, 2019. Accessed from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iju_l82cbz0
"Mut'ah Definition." Encyclopedia Britannia. Accessed from https://www.britannica.com/topic/mutah.
Robinson, Martin. "17,000 Sign Petition Demanding BBC Remove from its iPlayer its 'Pleasure Marriages' Expose on how Iraqi Muslim Clerics Sell Young Girls for Sex because it's 'Disrespectful' to Shia Islam." DailyMail.com Oct. 15, 2019. Accessed from https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7575235/17-000-viewers-demand-BBC-deletes-documentary-Iraqi-Muslim-clerics-sell-girls-sex.html.
Rostampour, Maryam & Marziyeh Amirizadeh. Captive in Iran. Atlanta: Tyndale House Publishers, 2013.
Sadeghi, Fatemeh. "'Temporary Marriage' and the Economy of Pleasure." PBS Frontline. March 15, 2010. Accessed from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2010/03/temporary-marriage-and-the-economy-of-pleasure.html.
Wells, Patrick. "Iraq's Secret Sex Trade." Amazon Prime. 58 mins. 2019. Accessed from https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B07YXBPWL4/ref=cm_sw_tw_r_pv_wb_7I2JB3A3l4BVl
Wood, David. "Muhammad and Nikah al-Mut'ah (Temporary Marriages as a Form of Prostitution." Answering Muslims.com. February 22nd, 2014. Accessed from http://www.answeringmuslims.com/2014/02/muhammad-and-nikah-al-mutah-temporary.html.
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