A major state-owned company warns employees that either they fulfill this “important and moral religious duty” by September or lose their job. It quotes certain hadith to justify its directive.

Tehran (AsiaNews) – A big Iranian state-owned company has told its unmarried employees to get tie the knot by September or lose their jobs, hard-line Kayhan daily reported. “One of the economic entities in the south of the country has asked its single employees to start creating a family,” the paper explained.

The paper did not however mention the name of the company but the reformist Etemad newspaper revealed that the firm is the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone Company—which covers Iran's giant gas and petrochemical facilities in Assalouyeh on the shores of the Gulf.

“Unfortunately some of our colleagues did not fulfil their commitments and are still single,” Etemad quoted a company directive as saying. “All the female and male colleagues have until September 21 to go ahead with this important and moral religious duty.”

The directive, signed by the company’s head of security, relies on certain hadith by Mohammed to justify its policy.

At the same time sexual relations outside of marriage are illegal in Iran and the country is in the midst of an unprecedented moral crackdown against seemingly unIslamic customs and behaviour.

The workers the company usually employs are young males and the directive aims at preventing them from falling into temptation during their long stints at work far from home.

• iran
• assalouyeh
• marriage
• kayhan
• etemad
• pars
• special
• economic
• energy
• zone
• company
• hadith
• muhammad
• firing