Imams who granted temporary marriages to Muslims hiring prostitutes have been sacked from their roles after Swedish media exposed their activities last year.
The imams, who are members of the Shia Islamic community, were found to have been paid to grant fixed-term marriages, or “pleasure marriages” to those wishing to hire prostitutes or engage in casual sex as a means of circumventing Islamic rules on sex within a marriage.
The Islamic Shia Communities in Sweden (ISS) launched an investigation after the allegations emerged last May and have stopped contributions to the twelve associations exposed last year, broadcaster SVT reports.
Haider Ibrahim, chairman of the ISS, told the broadcaster, “We have asked questions to all congregations, to imams and talked to our members. We have gone deep into what has happened,”. Following the investigation, two Stockholm area imams and twelve other religious leaders across Swedden have been sacked.
Petra Stenkula, police chief in Malmö, commented on the media investigation last year saying, “If I had been the lead investigator, I probably would have drawn up a report of human trafficking.”
The media investigation found many imams and religious leaders more than willing to arrange fixed-term marriages for SVT employees pretending to require the service, while also charging a fee.
However, some associations resisted, including one that stated, “What you want to do is illegal in Sweden unacceptable in society and illegal in Islam. It is forbidden to sell your body. Allah will help you. Unfortunately! I can’t help you.”
Since the height of the migrant crisis in 2015, Sweden has also seen a surge of child marriages linked to many immigrants from predominantly Islamic countries such as Syria.
Child marriages, despite being illegal in Sweden, remain an issue for many children living in Sweden as they are often taken out of the country and to be forced into those ceremonies.
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