Foreign Policy has a new article online about Shi'a temporary marriage (mut'aa) in Lebanon. I read it last night in a tryptophan-induced haze and thought it was pretty silly. I read it again this morning and... well, it's not much better the next day.
Mut'aa, if you're unfamiliar with it, is a temporary marriage contract that automatically voids after an agreed-upon period of time. It's used, among other reasons, as a way around Islamic strictures on premarital sex. Foreign Policy reports that it's becoming popular in Lebanon -- and sanctioned by Hizballah:
Temporary marriage has long been practiced by Shiites around the world. However, it has recently become more commonplace in Lebanon, notably within Hezbollah strongholds in Beirut's southern suburbs and in southern Lebanon after the 2006 war with Israel.
Hezbollah's recent encouragement of this phenomenon highlights the compromises it had been required to make in order to remain the preeminent force among its domestic Shiite constituency.
To support this assertion, FP provides... anecdotes. No statistics, no research, just a handful of stories from people who say mut'aa is becoming commonplace in Shi'a south Beirut. The plural of "anecdote," as any journalist can tell you, is not "data."
The indispensable Angry Arab also points out that the article's author, Hanin Ghaddar, works for NOW Lebanon, a staunchly pro-Hariri (and thus anti-Hizballah) news outlet.
Ghaddar's article, like much of what's in FP these days, seems more interested in being cute -- the tagline is "Hizballah's halal hookups" -- than presenting a thoughtful story.