Nikah mut'ah
temporary marriage in Shiite Islam
Nikah mut'ah Arabic: نكاح المتعة, romanized: nikāḥ al-mutʿah, literally "pleasure marriage"; temporary marriage or Sigheh (Persian: صیغه ، ازدواج موقت) is a private and verbal temporary marriage contract that is practiced in Twelver Shia Islam in which the duration of the marriage and the mahr must be specified and agreed upon in advance.
Quotes
edit- And all married women except those whom your right hands possess. It is a decree of Allah for you. Lawful to you are all beyond those mentioned, so that you may seek them with your wealth in honest wedlock, not debauchery. And those whom you enjoy, give them their shares as a duty. And there is no sin for you in what you do by mutual agreement after the duty. Indeed, Allah is ever-knower, wise.
- Quran 4.24
- For Shi‘ites, this verse is a justification for the concept of temporary marriage, or pleasure marriage (mut’ah ), which some see as a form of prostitution. See for example, on Quran 4.24 : The critical qur’an: explained from key islamic commentaries and contemporary historical research. (2021). . Bombardier Books.
- MUTʿAH (متعة). Lit. “Usufruct, enjoyment.” A marriage contracted for a limited period, for a certain sum of money. Such marriages are still legal amongst the Shīʿahs, and exist in Persia (Malcolm’s Persia, vol. ii. p. 591) to the present day, but they are said to be unlawful by the Sunnīs. They were permitted by the Arabian Prophet at Aut̤ās, and are undoubtedly the greatest stain upon his moral legislation; but the Sunnīs say that he afterwards prohibited a mutʿah marriage at K͟haibar. (Vide Mishkāt, book xiii. ch. iv. pt. 2.)
The Shīʿahs establish the legality of mutʿah not only upon the traditions, but also upon the following verse in the Qurʾān, the meaning of which, according to the commentary Tafsīr-i-Maz̤harī, is disputed. Sūrah iv. 28: “Forbidden to you also are married women, except those who are in your hands as slaves. This is the law of God for you. And it is allowed you, beside this, to seek out wives by means of your wealth, with modest conduct, and without fornication. And give those with whom ye have cohabited their dowry. This is the law. But it shall be no crime in you to make agreements over and above the law. Verily, God is Knowing, Wise!”
According to the Imāmīyah Code of Jurisprudence, the following are the conditions of Mutʿah, or “temporary marriages.” There must be declaration and acceptance, as in the case of nikāḥ, and the subject of the contract must be either a Muslimah, a Christian, or a Jewess, or (according to some) a Majūsī; she should be chaste, and due inquiries should be made into her conduct, as it is abominable to enter into contract with a woman addicted to fornication, nor is it lawful to make such a contract with a virgin who has no father. Some dower must be specified, and if there is a failure in this respect, the contract is void. There must also be a fixed period, but its extent is left entirely to the parties: it may be a year, a month, or a day, only some limit must be distinctly specified, so as to guard the period from any extension or diminution. The practice of ʿazl (extrahere ante emissionem seminis) is lawful, but if, notwithstanding this the woman becomes pregnant, the child is the temporary husband’s; but if he should deny the child, the denial is sustained by the law. Mutʿah marriages do not admit of divorce or repudiation, but the parties become absolutely separated on the expiration of the period. (Baillie’s Digest.)
There is a curious account of a discussion at the Court of the Emperor Akbar with reference to the subject of Mutʿah marriages in the ʿAīn-i-Akbari (Translation by H. Blochmann, M.A., p. 173). At one of the meetings for discussion, the Emperor asked how many free-born women a man may legally marry. The lawyers answered that four was the limit fixed by the Prophet. His Majesty thereupon remarked that, from the time he had come of age he had not restricted himself to that number, and in justice to his wives, of whom he had a large number, both free-born and slaves, he now wanted to know what remedy the law provided for his case. Most of the Maulawīs present expressed their opinions, when the Emperor remarked that Shaik͟h ʿAbdu ʾn-Nabī had once told him that one of the Mujtahids had had as many as nine wives. Some of those present said that some learned men had allowed even eighteen from a too literal translation of the second verse of Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ in the Qurʾān. [MARRIAGE.] After much discussion, the learned men present, having collected every tradition on the subject, decreed, first, that by mutʿah a man may marry any number of wives; and, secondly, that mutʿah marriages were sanctioned by the Imām Mālik; but a copy of the Muwat̤t̤aʾ of the Imām Mālik was brought, and a passage cited from that collection of traditions against the legality of mutʿah marriages.
The disputation was again revived at a subsequent meeting, when at the request of the Emperor, Badāʾonī gave the following summary of the discussion: “Imām Mālik, and the Shīʿahs are unanimous in looking upon mutʿah marriages as legal; Imām ash-Shāfiʿī and the great Imām Abū Ḥanīfah look upon mutʿah marriages as illegal. But should at any time a Qāẓī of the Malakī sect decide that mutʿah is legal, it is legal, according to the common belief, even for Shāfiʿīs and Ḥanafīs. Every other opinion on this subject is idle talk.” This saying pleased the Emperor, and he at once appointed a Qāẓī, who gave a decree which made mutʿah marriages legal.
In permitting these usufructuary marriages Muḥammad appears but to have given Divine (?) sanction to one of the abominable practices of ancient Arabia, for Burckhardt (vol. ii. p. 378) says, it was a custom of their forefathers to assign to a traveller who became their guest for the night, some female of the family, most commonly the host’s own wife!
