November 15-2013
A bill allowing fathers to marry their adopted daughters as young as 13 did not originate with the Majlis but was forced on the legislature by the Council of Guardians, the state news agency reports.
Meanwhile, a major cleric has called the legislation “disgraceful.” Lay critics complain the bill legalizes pedophilia.
The head of the Infallible Imams Jurisprudence Center, Ayatollah Mohammad-Javad Fazel-Lankarani, said Saturday, “From the standpoint of Islamic jurisprudence such an act of marriage is disgraceful. In Shia jurisprudence, such a marriage is at least discouraged, and, very likely, in accord with some authentic sayings, even religiously forbidden—haram.”
Fazel-Lankarani said, “There are very clear narrations in the jurisprudence, related to the time of the infallible imams, when they had been asked and they had defined the faith’s verdict on this point.”
He said, “When the imams were asked whether it would be permitted in religion for a man to marry the woman who helped his mother give birth to him, the reply was negative.”
Fazel-Lankarani reasoned: “The infallible imams say, in addition to being forbidden to marry a midwife, even marrying the daughter of that midwife is forbidden for the children in whose births she assisted.”
Elaborating on the reasoning, he said, “That is because a midwife is partially involved in nurturing the child.”
Fazel-Lankarani argued, “This can be said even more strongly about an adopting parent. Even if such marriages are not totally forbidden, they are strongly discouraged.”
The legislation was originally approved by the Majlis last winter. But the statute did not approve such marriages; it forbade them.
The legislation apparently when unnoticed then, given the attention focused on the upcoming presidential election.
A few weeks ago, some newspapers reported the Majlis had just passed a law overturning a ban on such marriages and allowing them for the first time. The Iran Times reported that as well. (See Iran Times issue of October 18, page seven.)
But the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported Saturday that this was not accurate.
In February, IRNA reported, an act was passed by the Majlis under which marriage between adopted children and their parents was completely banned. The statute also stated that if a foster parent decided to marry his or her adopted child, custody of the child would be taken away from the foster parent.
The 12-man Council of Guardians, which must approve all legislation as in compliance with Sharia law and the Constitution, ruled that the bill violated Sharia law and sent it back to the Majlis for revision.
The Majlis then re-wrote the bill so that marriage between foster parents and their adopted children could take place. However, IRNA said the Majlis added a provision saying such marriages are permitted only when requested by the State Welfare Organization and approved by a court, a very high hurdle.
The Guardian Council has not acted yet on this revised bill, IRNA said.
But the description provided by IRNA reverses the earlier stories. Those made it appear the Majlis was eager to promote marriages of parents with adopted children, while the IRNA account shows the Majlis as trying to discourage them.
