A new trend has materialised in the last few years, many Muslim youths are marrying temporarily (mut'ah and muwaqqat) in order to attain sexual gratification and are then going through the process of divorce soon after. Many students are coming out of university and college having been married during their academic years. In some cases, students are coming out after being married two or three times. This is down to the ignorance towards the Fiqh of Nikkah. Many people are ignorant towards the rulings and commands of marriage and thus they opt to do something which is known as a 'cowboy' job. This basically means that they will conduct marriage in any old way. My respected father always used to say to me during the early years of my studies, "A little bit of knowledge can be dangerous!" At that time I did not fully understand what he meant but now I understand that he was pointing out that many people gain some understanding and feel that they are capable of being the grand mufti of England. It is because of this, many people read a few AHadith and feel that they can implement it straight away without knowing whether it is still permissible to act upon (i.e. has it been abrogated or not, what do the Muslim jurists have to say about it etc). Hence they conduct these secret, temporary marriages in any old way without knowing the rulings behind it.

Unfortunately, this is most prominent in people who have some religious inclination. I remember being told by my respected and beloved Ustadh, Maulana Shoyaib Nurgat sahib, "Many youths today who come into deen are involved in DIY (do-it-yourself) and lose complete understanding of the Qur'an and Sunnah." I could not agree with this more, many university students feel that they are capable of commentating on Hadith because they have read 'books' by big 'scholars'. After reading these books, they interpret matters in society in accordance with their extremely lay understanding. The very sad and unfortunate thing is that these people hold very high positions in Islamic Societies and are seen by the common people as being hugely knowledgeable and obedient followers of Islam. So naturally, the common folk will follow the leaders of their society and if their leaders are encouraging and allowing temporary Nikkah, we will have a society full of dodgy marriages. It is about these types of things my beloved father would say, "The one eyed king leading the blind." Meaning that the leader himself is not able to see the correct path properly as it is obscured by his vision and the people following him are blind and will follow him into darkness also. There are two types of Nikkah in discussion here,

1. Nikkah Mut'ah (Temporary Marriage)

2. Nikkah Muwwaqat (Time Bound Marriage)

Both are similar and maintain the same objective, a temporary marriage in order for both parties to attain sexual gratification.

Question -Is Nikkah Mut'ah allowed?

It is completely and utterly forbidden and whomsoever does this and then becomes sexually active with a person is a sinner. The people who practise temporary marriages will put forth the following hadith. 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud رضي الله عنه reports,

"We were on an expedition with Rasulullah صلي الله عليه وسلم and we had no women with us. We said, "Should we not have ourselves castrated?' (Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries. The term "castration" generally refers to males, but may occasionally refer to females. (Wikipedia))
He صلي الله عليه وسلم forbade us to do so. He then granted us permission that we should contract temporary marriage for a stipulated period giving her a garment, and 'Abdullah then recited this verse: "Those who believe do not make unlawful the good things which Allah has made lawful for you, and do not transgress. Allah does not like transgressors"(Sahih Muslim)

A common lay person may read this Hadith and take away its literal meaning and feel it permissible to conduct such a marriage straight away! And there are a few other AHadith which also pertain to this type of marriage too. However, these marriages were for a specific time. The Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم used to allow this during the war expeditions. Rasulullah صلي الله عليه وسلمand his Companions would enter a new city and the Sahabah would need to fulfil their desires however they would have no partners with them. Sometimes their stay in another city would equal months and it is natural for a man to become quite bothered if he is not able to fulfil his sexual needs. It was due to this need that Rasulullah صلي الله عليه وسلم had given his Companions the permission to practise Nikkah Mut'ah. They would give clothes and belongings to the person in their wedlock in exchange for permission to handle them in a sexual manner. The marriage was not intended to last but would be fixed for a certain period.

This however was soon abrogated. '' Abdullah ibn 'Abbas ., narrates,

'Temporary marriage was only permissible in the beginning of Islam. A man would stay in a city in which he would have no acquaintance. So he would marry a woman for an appointed time which considered good for his stay. She used to protect his goods for him and cook his food till this verse was revealed, 'Except their wives or what their right hands possessed' lbn 'Abbas said, 'Then every private part except those two (which have been mentioned in the verse) became unlawful."(Mishkatul Masabih)

The permissibility of Mut'ah is only attributed to the Shi'ah -"However the Shi'ah have left the belief of 'Ali., and have gone against his actions when it has (clearly) been stated in Sahih Muslim that when 'Ali heard 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas allowing the permissibility of temporary marriage (prior to him correcting his opinion) he said, 'lbn 'Abbas! Do not say this because I had heard Rasulullah صلي الله عليه وسلم forbidding temporary marriages and the flesh of donkey's on the day of Khaybar. " (Mirqatul Mafatih)

Concluding, the following is mentioned in the great Hanafi Fiqh manual, Al Hidayah,

"And Nikkab Mut'ah is invalid. And that is when a man says to a woman, 'I will seek benefit from you for (the duration of) a certain period in exchange for (certain) wealth (i.e. clothes, money etc.) ... We are of the opinion that Nikkah Mut'ah has been proved to be abrogated by the consensus of the Companions. "(Hidayah Awwalayn)

"All the 'Ulama are of the opinion that Mut'ah is forbidden ... However some may object on the consensus of the Companions and say that 'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas, was not of this opinion during the time of consensus. The answer to this is the incident with' Ali , ( mentioned above). lbn 'Abbas then corrected his opinion and thus, the consensus of the Companions was established.

Mut'ah was allowed prior to the day of Khaybar but on the day of Khaybar, the Prophet صلي الله عليه وسلم had forbidden it and the (eating) of the flesh of donkey. Then in the year of the Conquest of Makkah, it was made Halal for three days during the Days of Awtas. Then on the fourth day, it was made Haram till Qiyamah. (Ashraful Hidāyah 4/50)

Question -Is Nikkah Muwwagat allowed?

"Nikkah Muwwaqat is when a man marries a woman in front of two witnesses for a fixed amount of days e.g. Ten days or one year etc. There are two differences in Nikkah Muwwaqat and Nikkah Mu'tah. The majority of the 'Ulama are of the opinion that this is forbidden."(Ibid)

Both are completely unlawful, a person who does this will be involving themselves in the grave sin of Zina (fornication) which will be discussed later inshaa Allah.

💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫💫

Remember me in your prayers inshaa Allah

Asalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh