Casual sex, Sunni style: "visit" marriages.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Saudi Arabians using matrimonial loophole in marriages

WITH GREAT trepidation and a roar of religious mumbo jumbo, many Saudis are opting for a matrimonial loophole known as the misyar (or "visit") marriage, a form of clandestine matrimony in which the woman gives up any spousal rights and stays in her own residence, the man visits her for sex, and after a while the union is dissolved by a divorce. Officials tell Arab News that seven of IO contemporary marriage contracts in Saudi Arabia are misyar arrangements.

The popularity of the arrangement in a country top-heavy with spinsters and divorced women--and men unable to afford the expense of maintaining a full-time bride--has prompted Saudi religious authorities to observe a time-honored method for dealing with vice: renaming it virtue. This spring, the Institute of Islamic Religious Law sanctioned misyar marriages but stipulated that neither party can enter into the union with a secret intention of getting divorced. Even this caveat is belied by the wording of many misyar contracts. One version makes divorce automatic if the woman gets pregnant; another ends the union if the marriage is made public.

In a society that disguises hatred of women as concern for the well-being of the distaff, it's not surprising that much of the controversy over misyar...