فصلنامه مطالعات راهبردی زنان
پیاپی 40 (تابستان 1387)

Injunctions concerning women’s Edda are made and issued by Islamic law according to women’s human values and dignity. Edda has many legal and jurisprudential consequences and affects many women in the society. Therefore, it is very important to scrutinize the matter and determine the time span in accordance with the different conditions woman may have. In addition, new questions arise as a result of the advancement of medicine and the possibility to remove the uterus. This paper studies various forms of Edda such the Edda after divorce, Edda after death of husband, Edda of pregnant women, Edda in case of temporary marriage, and Edda of women with no uterus. At the end, it suggested that women with no uterus do not have to the Edda rules and in the case of temporary marriage women wait only two menstrual cycles before remarriage.

Messyar marriage is a kind of marriage which has become popular in recent years in some Islamic countries and many Arab men and women have welcomed it. Since the Sunnites know temporary marriage, as common among the Shiites, illegitimate, to answer the needs of some young men and women proposed Messyar marriage. Messyar is a type of constant marriage contract in which it is specified that the woman has no right to alimony and to going to bed with the man unless he is willing, and the man is free to visit the woman whenever he wants to. The woman is also free and the man cannot enforce his mastery over her. The important point is that in this type of marriage there is no balance between the rights and the duties of the couples and women suffer from more indetermination. This paper evaluates the conditions of Messyar marriage contract and the arguments Sunnite jurisprudents bring for and against it.

According to articles 946 to 949 of the Iranian Civil Law: “husband inherits properties and possessions from his wife, but wife inherits (only) the following items: (1) movable properties of whatever type they might be, (2) buildings and trees… whenever other inheritors avoid determining the price of buildings and trees, wife has the right to use the property itself.” Since, according to some jurisprudents, wife does not inherit the land, Iranian Civil Law, too, deprived wife of inheriting land. In addition, if there is no other inheritor except husband, he can inherit all the possessions and properties from his wife; however, in such a case, wife inherits only her own share and the rest of husband’s possessions and properties are considered as personal properties with no inheritor. The other case is the difference between a wife with offspring and one without any offspring. This paper studies the viewpoints of contemporary jurisprudents and elaborates on their arguments for or against wife’s inheritance. Finally, suggestions are given to revise women’s inheritance law concerning their movable properties and determining the price of immovable properties.

The history of obligatory marriage registration law in Iran goes back to 1931. According to the Iranian legislation before the Islamic Revolution, not registering any type of marriage was considered a crime both for the couples and the one who performed the marriage contraction. Now, article 645 of Islamic Penal Law considers it a crime only for the couples. In addition, the Family Support Bill stipulates that registration of a man’s second marriage is subject to the payment of alimony to his first wife, considering the registration of such temporary marriage not obligatory and leaving the formalities to a rule book. However, it seems that making the registration of a temporary marriage obligatory, considering the acts of all involved in an unregistered marriage as crime, and strictly presiding over temporary marriage can help decrease the harms done by temporary marriage. This paper studies the goals, consequences, and formalities of marriage registration, the legal vacuums concerning the registration of temporary or constant marriage in present law or in the Family Support Bill. Suggestions to revise article 645 of Islamic Penal Law are presented at the end.

Marriage is an important event in human life and a significant legal institution in human societies. Physical puberty and preparedness, and intellectual growth to begin a family life are so important that many legal systems in the world considered it necessary to determine a minimal age of marriage. The Iranian legal system underwent many changes and tested different types of regulations concerning the minimal age of marriage. After elaborating on the age of marriage and growth, the paper studies developments the Iranian legal system has undergone and their consequences. Finally, the paper shows that the distinction made by law between the age of marriage and age of growth results in problems for couples. As a result, suggestions are given to improve article 1041 of the Iranian Civil Law.

Nationality is a political relationship between an individual and government and has specific legal effects. Marriage is one of the factors specifies and/or changes a person’s, his/her spouse’s, and their children’s nationality. The most important effect of marriage on the nationality of children appears when there is a disagreement over the nationality of parents. The paper studies the legal effects of the marriage of Iranian women with foreign men. The research shows that paragraphs 4-5 of article 976 of Iranian Civil Law do not resolve the problems concerning the nationality of children arising out of the marriage of Iranian women with non-Iranian men. The problems remain unsolved until such children are at the age of 18. Though the law was revised in 2006, it only provided facilities such residence in Iran, issuing marriage permission for such people. Thus, the paper’s suggestion is revising article 976.

Mo’atati marriage contract has different meanings in Islamic jurisprudence and law. A common conception is that in such kind of marriage for the contract to be legitimate it is not necessary for the couples to verbally declare their consent. The important question arising here is whether one can perform a marriage contract without verbally declaring consent or not. Most jurisprudents believe that marriage contracts must be verbally and explicitly uttered and that Mo’atati marriage is invalid. There seems to be a general consent over this issue. The Iranian Civil Law, too, asserts that marriage contract must be verbally uttered. However, some argue that Mo’atati marriage contract is valid. This paper elaborates on the meanings of Mo’atat in marriage contract, evaluating arguments for and against Mo’atati marriage contract and the primary or secondary function of the verbal utterance of marriage contract. Finally, the paper tries to answer the question whether there is a substitute for verbal utterance in marriage contract or not.

Polygamy in Islam is an issue which has recently drew the attention of public opinion. The questions put forward here are whether polygamy is a matter of legislation or whether temporary marriage is a private matter and it is not necessary for government and family courts to interfere. If for temporary marriage the permission of the court is necessary, what conditions should it have, in what cases can permission for remarriage be issued, and in what cases is not such kind of marriage permitted? Evaluating the regulations before the Islamic Revolution, this paper studies article 23 of Family Support Bill. In addition, the regulations concerning remarriage in other Islamic countries are also discussed. Then the paper concentrates on the constraints, conditions of remarriage, and conditions for the permission of the court. It seems the following conditions are necessary: a valid reason, man’s financial capability, establishing justice between the two wives, preparing an additional house, certificate of the financial rights of the previous wife, granting an absolute non-returnable proxy to the wife to divorce herself without any loss in case the man cannot do justice or does not have financial capability.