Ms. Lapidos, I think you have the wrong term here for a Shi'ite temporary marriage. The word I'm familiar with it mut'a, or nikah al-mut'a. The word you use, sigha, denotes a second temporary contract marriage with the same man after the expiration of the first.

Hi Graybill,

Thanks for reading, but I'm pretty sure the term's accurate. Check out this, for example: <link>

I'm afraid the NY Times reporter should have checked an authoritative source for this term. Here is the definition from the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the foremost scholarly source in English for Islamic studies reference :

Sigha : In Persia, a designation for a second temporary marriage, mut'a, with the same man after the expiry of the first, in order to evade the period of abstention, 'idda, which in such a case is considered to be unnecessary. EI2 Glossary & Index, p.378

The relevant part of the full article on mut'a in EI2 is in v. VII, p.758-9. See section VI of the article.

So that there is no confusion, these legal forms of prostitution

(temporary marriage) are legal in the Shi'a sect. I am a Muslim and this form of prostitution (legalized) is not permissible no matter which word is correct.

I'm not taking any position on whether the practice is legal or not. My point is that it's risky to rely for information on nothing more than journalistic sources -- research by Lexis/Nexis, so to speak. If one reporter makes a mistake, all later reporters merely repeat that mistake without consulting reliable sources to verify it.

Perhaps Ms. Lapidos can tell us which scholarly sources she consulted to clarify this point of Islamic legal vocabulary.