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FATIMA ALI was a 24-year-old divorcee with no high school certificate and no job. Shawket al-Rubae was a 34-year-old Shiite sheik with a pregnant wife who, he said, could not have sex with him.
Ms Ali wanted someone to take care of her. Sheik Rubae wanted a companion.
They met one afternoon in May at the house he shares with his wife, in the room where he accepts visitors seeking his religious counsel. He had a proposal. Would Ms Ali be his temporary wife? He would pay her 5000 dinars ($5) in advance plus her monthly expenses. About twice a week over the next eight months he would summon her to a house he would rent.
The negotiations took an hour and ended with an unwritten agreement. Thus began their mutaa, or enjoyment marriage, a temporary union Shiites believe to be sanctioned by Islamic law.
The practice began 1400 years ago, in what is now Iraq and in other parts of the region, as a way to provide for war widows. Banned by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led government, it has regained popularity since the invasion in 2003 brought the majority Shiites to power.
Opponents of mutaa, most of them Sunnis, say it is less about religious freedom than economic exploitation. Many thousands of men have been killed since the invasion, leaving behind widows who must fend for themselves. Many young men are out of work and shy of long-term financial commitments. In mutaa the woman is entitled to payment only for the duration of the marriage.
"It's a cover for prostitution," said Um Akram, a women's rights activist. "Some women, because they don't want to be prostitutes, they think that this is legal because it's got some kind of religious cover. But it is wrong."
Many intellectuals consider ancient traditions such as these an obstacle to Iraq's effort to become a more modern, democratic society.
Shiite clerics and others who practise mutaa say such marriages keep young women from having unwed sex and widowed or divorced women from resorting to prostitution.
Under Shiite religious law, a mutaa relationship can last for a few minutes or several years. A man can have an unlimited number of mutaa wives and a permanent wife at the same time. A woman can have only one husband at a time, permanent or temporary. No written contract or official ceremony is required. When the time limit ends the man and woman go their separate ways with none of the messiness of a regular divorce.
Although the temporary arrangements are becoming more common, they are still controversial, and people usually conduct them secretly.
Ms Ali had a normal marriage once, but it lasted only three months. Her chances for another permanent marriage, she said, were slim. Men often prefer virgins over widows and divorced women, she said.
She welcomed Sheik Rubae's proposal. "He was a good guy, and he was a religious man," she said.
Sheik Rubae had been in 15 mutaa marriages before. A year ago he entered into a permanent marriage with a woman who had been his mutaa wife for a day. When she became pregnant eight months ago she suggested he take a temporary wife but not tell her if he did. She does not know about his involvement with Ms Ali.
Um Akram, the women's rights activist in Baghdad, said more women were asking her group for help in getting national ID cards for children born of mutaa relationships. A marriage certificate is needed to obtain the cards, which are required by schools and employers.
She said some single women had given up their children for adoption to married couples who can register them.
"The men just hit and run, and they don't want to have a family," she said. "The children are paying the price."
Ms Ali and Sheik Rubae agreed not to have children. They simply wanted to enjoy each other.
On the days he saw her he gave her gifts. They had meals together. Sometimes he could spend the whole day with her. Other times, just five or six hours.
Ms Ali said she cried when the marriage ended early this month. Her sorrow did not last long. Sheik Rubae has decided to marry her again.
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