Athar Alrafedain

Abstract

Marriage is a social phenomenon which mean the coupling between a man and a woman for the sake of reproduction, the preserving of human race , and making family .
This happens with the consent of society. Marriage is a strong bond and an economical and social instruction .It lead to real stability for the married couple .
Archaeological and historied study show that the norms of marriage is not the same in ancient oriental societies.
In fact they were different depending on the places and the soci-economical conditions and their foreign linkage.
This fact necessitates that we establish the roots of those marriages through studying cuneiform tablets and scrutinizing.
 Their contents to explain them to readers and to show how far they were widespread in semitic societies .we came across a number of terms that name those strange marriage such as secret affairs , shaghar (exchange of sisters),enslaving ect.. It seems that these marriages was not limited to pre-Islamic Arab society, but also know to other semitic societies may be because those socities were surrounded by different races and cultures which had a negative effect on normal marriage which aims to establish the basic unit of society , the family.
 Islam approved this type of marriage and prohibited other types due to their negative impact, which can lead to the demolition of family, which is the topic of this paper.