Mutah - Fiqa Jafria Ke Mutabiq

A Mut’ah is a temporary marriage that ends at a fixed period

Mut’ah is a type of marriage, used in the same way as a permanent marriage (Nikah) in order to make a man and woman physically halaal to each other. A Mut’ah is a temporary marriage that ends at a fixed period. Imam of Ahl as-Sunnah Waheed ad-Deen az-Zaman, in his footnotes of Sunan ibn Majah, defined Mut’ah as follows:

Mut’ah is a type of Nikah until an agreed time. It can be for a day, two days, a month, one year, three years etc.

Waheed ad-Deen az-Zaman. Sunan Ibn Majah. Volume 2, p. 76

Imam Nawawi in his commentary of Sahih Muslim, relied on the definition of Mut’ah advanced by Imam of Ahle Sunnah Qadi Iyad as follows:

وَاتَّفَقَ الْعُلَمَاء عَلَى أَنَّ هَذِهِ الْمُتْعَة كَانَتْ نِكَاحًا إِلَى أَجَل لَا مِيرَاث فِيهَا , وَفِرَاقهَا يَحْصُل بِانْقِضَاءِ الْأَجَل مِنْ غَيْر طَلَاق

“Ulema agree that this Mut’ah is a Nikah in which the husband and wife do not inherit from eachother and separation would take place on the completion of the Specified time without Talaq”.

Sharh Sahih Muslim, Volume 4 page 13

The Sunni scholar Allamah ‘Abd Ar-Rahman al-Jazeri in his Al-fiqh ‘Ala Al-Madhahib al-Arba’ said:

أما حقيقة نكاح المتعة، فهو أن يقيد عقد الزواج بوقت معين، كأن يقول لها: زوجيني نفسك شهراً. أو تزوجتك مدة سنة. أو نحو ذلك، سواء كان صادراً أمام شهود وبمباشرة ولي، أولا

The reality of Nikah Mut’ah is that, in the marriage recital performed with a woman, words are added which stipulate that the marriage is for a fixed time. For example a man shall say ‘she shall remain as my wife for a month, or I shall have Nikah Mut’ah with you for a year.” The parties themselves act as witnesses. It can occur in the presence of a Wali or witnesses, or without them.

Al-fiqh ‘Ala Al-Madhahib al-Arba’ (Lahore Edition) Volume 4, page 167

Nikah mut'ah Arabic: نكاح المتعة, romanized: nikāḥ al-mutʿah, literally "pleasure marriage"; temporary marriage: 1045  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.: 242 : 47–53  It is a private contract made in a verbal or written format. A declaration of the intent to marry and an acceptance of the terms are required as in other forms of marriage in Islam.

According to Shia Muslims, Muhammad sanctioned nikah mut'ah (fixed-term marriage, called muta'a in Iraq and sigheh in Iran), which has instead been used as a legitimizing cover for sex workers in a culture where prostitution is otherwise forbidden. Some Western writers have argued that mut'ah approximates prostitution.

Some sources say the Nikah mut'ah has no prescribed minimum or maximum duration, but others, such as The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, indicate the minimum duration of the marriage is debatable and durations of at least three days, three months or one year have been suggested.

Some Muslims and Western scholars have stated that both Nikah mut'ah and Nikah misyar are Islamically void attempts to religiously sanction prostitution which is otherwise forbidden. The Zaidi Shia reject Mutah marriage.

The Four Pillars Of Mut'a

The Arabic dictionaries define mut'a as 'enjoyment, pleasure, delight'. The root form, m-t: signifies, 'to carry away, to take away'. A 'marriage of mut'a' is a marriage which the contract stipulates will last for a fixed period of time. This 'marriage of mut'a' is referred to both in the hadith literature and, in much more detail, in the books on jurisprudence (fiqh).

In the hadith and in other sayings related from early Muslims the word 'mut'a' itself is usually employed. The Shi’a hold that this particular term is the preferred name for temporary marriage because the Qur'an itself refers to this kind of marriage employing a term derived from the same root. In the following verse, the word istimta', the tenth verbal form of the root m-t-', is translated as 'enjoy':