Due to both religious and traditional state of Iranian society, conventional and legitimate forms of family formation has always been preferred. However, the ideals of Islamic republic have been seriously challenged by emergence of new family types such as cohabitation. Sociological analysis, therefore, would be required to see how the Iranian policy makers could come up with new religious interpretations in order to recognize most of those new types as “legitimate”. Cohabitation, in particular, needs to be tackled objectively, since it provides a family-like pattern which could act as a growing rival for the conventional forms of family.
Drawing on qualitative interviews with well-reputed experts, this study has focused on the ways of legitimizing new family forms in Iran. The results reveal that in spite of radical readings of Islam which reject any inclination to reinterpret “Sharia”, flexible and inclusive readings of religion are still possible, to give a much broader meaning to what is known as “legitimate” Islamic family.
