SIGHA: A
PERVERSION PRESENTED TO SOCIETY UNDER THE GUISE OF RELIGION
28 years
ago, that is to say when the revolution took place in Iran,
the ones who rebelled against the old system were not even
thinking that they would some day assume the leadership of
the country. Moreover, they did not even have their own
programs. At the end of those years during which socialism
flared up, the leftist groups that rebelled against the
system of the Shah, who embarked the role of gendarme in
Iran, which is located at the heart of the Middle East and
the region carried out “the so-called revolution” by
cooperating with the Islamic groups who were always ready to
do something. The so-called revolutionaries that never even
thought that Shah would leave the stage to them so easily
and run away were caught highly by surprise, because they
lacked a program to manage Iran which embodied an extremely
delicate position… As it has been the case in several
revolutions around the world, following the Iranian
Revolution, “a different dictatorship” appeared in the
country. The so-called revolutionaries, who did not read
anything but Islamic books and were afraid to have any other
perspective than religion, started to develop new methods so
as “to wrap themselves up in a special identity”. Thus,
antiquated practices took place that had nothing to do with
today’s realities and that have taken the society several
centuries back. An important part of those developments
concerned people… Groundless practices and rules were
introduced so as to deceive people. Following the
revolution, new values and responding anti-values were
defined in Iran. For example, playing tennis, golf, chess,
backgammon and billiards, eating caviar and sturgeon, and
applying birth control were described as “bad behavior” and
people were banned to do these. Furthermore, shaving,
wearing a tie under a suit, going out without a head scarf
for women, consuming alcohol and drugs, having extramarital
sexual intercourse and so many similar acts have been
banned. Why were the revolutionaries banning all these? Were
they merely aiming to acquire a new identity for
themselves?...
A few years
after the revolution, the so-called revolutionaries
gradually started to get in touch with the world, noticing
that the conditions of the day were contradicting with their
values, because several acts that they had banned were
considered normal even in Muslim countries. In that case,
the revolutionaries and the circles that supported them
should have annulled these bans in time. Right at that time,
the Ayatollahs were in charge and it was possible for them
to abolish the bans with a single sentence. Then the
Ayatollahs began tolerating the acts that they had banned
without attracting popular reaction and by “attributing
religious guises” with them. The most important of the
mentioned topics that is keeping the public opinion busy
these days is Sigha or the temporary marriage “that has to
be widespread so as to correct the sexual balance of the
society” according to the Ayatollahs…
“Sigha has
to become widespread so as to correct the sexual balance of
the society,” said Minister of Interior Mostafa
Pourmohammadi, who also enjoys a religious identity, in a
speech made in “Qom, the Mullah Factory”. Are you aware of
the size of the religious guise in this statement? One of
the characteristics of the Farsi literature is to prepare
appropriate ground to make such sentences!... As a matter of
fact, seen from a different perspective we should be happy
about this statement, because the ones who rule the country
finally recognized the existence of an instinct inherent in
human beings after 28 years… They have probably recognized
that they could not suppress this instinct through
censorship, oppression, veils, truncheons, prisons, whipping
and torture, and decided to introduce “a religious guise”
for that. They tended to spread this tradition by setting up
“Sigha Websites” on the internet that bring together the
couples that would like to get married. Furthermore, they
urged certain sociologists like Majid Abhari to make
statements like the following: “In the modern world,
technology has entered in cultural and social life, and thus
the marriages performed through the internet are an
example.” Through such “scientific statements” they try to
spread sigha throughout the society and therefore to prevent
the youth to be corrupted…
As is
known, in the early stages of Islam, so many men were
martyred during battles waged to spread this religion and
leaving widows behind. Our Prophet believed that temporary
and/or permanent marriages with those widows would be useful
not to leave them forlorn. Thus, performed by uttering a
number of Arabic sentences between two people without
registering anywhere, temporary marriages or sigha became
valid in society and its rules have been changed by the
clerics. Sigha has been present in the Iranian society for a
very long time but people had different viewpoints about it.
Although the majority of people disapproved sigha, there
were supporters of it particularly in religious towns. The
Mullah Regime that managed (!) to create certain taboos
after the revolution and then surprised the society by
terminating these taboos after realizing that the system
came to a dead end, and put a blow on public psychology by
creating distrust against everyone and everything, has
finally found a “religious guise” for sexuality that
naturally maintained its presence between men and women 28
years after the revolution… Sigha…
When we
take a look at present day Iran, having around 300 thousand
prostitutes only in Tehran, we see a society having 4
million unemployed, 30 percent of whom are graduates, 5
million drug addicts, and 10 million single girls and boys.
Given that prostitution is a multi-factorial phenomenon, we
recognize that the Iranian society is in a grave situation
and it is quite ready for a burst of crimes… The Ahmadinejad
Leadership has failed to introduce rational solutions for
all these negativities. Is the reason why they pursue such a
policy their belief that “Mahdi would come in a period of
great mayhem, oppression and injustice”? They may be
preparing Iran through these methods for the arrival of the
savior… Who knows?
By means of
sigha which is present through a religious guise, the oldest
profession of the world, prostitution, has been legitimized.
It would not be wrong to say that sexuality has reached the
top in the Iranian society, which is virtually cut in two
with a knife. Is it right to introduce freedoms to the
public “with a Religious Sigha Guise” in a society like Iran
which has been waiting for a solution for sexual problems
for years? The Leadership that according to decisions taken
28 years ago closed down special centers – controlled by the
healthcare and security units in Iran as it is the case all
around the world – without considering the consequences,
panicked when it observed that every part of our society has
turned into such centers. However, sigha is not the solution
for this problem, because lacking any appropriate and legal
aspect in present day conditions, sigha will result in
problems like the care of those women, the responsibility of
the children that will be born, health issues, AIDS in
particular, the increasing number of forlorn children in
society and split families, after it has been legitimized.
The Government has to introduce realistic solutions for
problems like unemployment, education, poverty, drugs and
the facilitation of marriages, rather than taking such
absurd decisions.
Moreover,
certain communities living in Iran have traditions that do
not tolerate practices like sigha. One of these communities
is the Azerbaijani people. The people of Southern Azerbaijan
will not accept judgments like sigha, which is presented in
a religious guise and has nothing to do with the traditions
and customs of the majority of people, and will not be the
victim of legitimized prostitution. The supporters of the
sigha tradition, on the other hand, are free to try it in
their own circles.
