4.51 Temporary Marriages

Does the Quran permit temporary (mut’ah) marriages?

Researched by A. Muhammad

Temporary Mut’ah marriages are practiced among some Muslims. These are marriages where a time duration is fixed when the marriage contract is drawn.

The contract for the Mut'ah marriage is paid upfront or half before the start and half if sexual pleasure is derived. It is automatically dissolved upon completion of its term.

Despite the fact that this type of marriage is not authorised nor mentioned in the Quran, yet those who legalise it base their justification on the manipulation of some Quranic words in 4:24.

To research this type of marriage in the light of the Quran, the following issues need to be addressed:

FIRST

God would never advocate sin (7:28), not plain sin nor disguised sin (6:120). Anyone who writes a temporary marriage certificate for the sake of sexual activities is trying to disguise his sin. In fact he would not be any different from someone who hires a prostitute for a day or a week for sexual services. The only difference is that the first man conjured up a piece of paper and adds the title “marriage” to it! But the act, in purpose and execution, is the same.

This immoral type of marriage defies the whole concept and purpose of marriage as designed by God.

God ordained marriage to be a lasting union between man and woman. We only need to remember all the conditions which God placed before a divorce can be executed to realise that God regards marriage as a lasting and not temporary union.

The Quran places the following conditions before a divorce can be executed:

1- The couple must wait 4 months (cooling period) before committing to divorce (2:226)

2- The couple must seek a council from the 2 families and genuinely attempt to reconcile (4:35)

3- The wife should not be evicted from the marriage home unless she commits a gross sin (65:1)

4- The man must pay the divorced wife a divorce compensation (2:241)

5- The man must pay for children's alimony (2:233)

6- If the man divorces a wife who is nursing his child, he must pay for her food and clothes for two years (2:233)

There is nowhere in the Quran that says that any of the above conditions can be broken under certain circumstance. In effect, it is impossible to fulfil all these conditions in the case of a temporary marriage. For example, how can a couple who draw a temporary marriage for 2 weeks wait for 4 months before getting divorce? The terms of their temporary marriage says that it is dissolved after 2 weeks! Equally, will the couple who set up a temporary “marriage for sex” arrangement for a week or two seek a council from their two families before they end the marriage?

As a result, temporary marriages violate the conditions God placed before a divorce can be executed. This is in addition to the moral issues which need not any clarification.

SECOND

Some who justify the Mut’ah marriages say that not everyone is able to get married, this could be for financial reasons or other reasons. Thus they claim that this type of marriage would be the answer for them.

When we read the Quran we find that God has already considered this situation and God gives the righteous solution for those who do not have the means to get married. The solution is not to hire a consenting woman and conjure up a convenient contract! The Quranic solution is given by God in the following verse:

“Those who do not have the means to get married shall maintain their chastity until God provides for them from His grace.”24:33

As we can see, this is the solution given to us by God. So those who do not have the means to get married, for any reason, they should maintain their chastity until God provides for them.

Those who engage in temporary marriages, and fool themselves by saying “it is legally drawn up” are violating the command in 24:33.

THIRD

Others have claimed that temporary marriages are a cheap and legal way to vent the human sex drive! This is also far from the truth.

The large majority of women who engage in such marriages are paid large sums of money for their services! As a result, temporary marriages are often enjoyed by rich men, who are mostly married to other women, and who just wish to enjoy a bit more sex on the side. They fool themselves by claiming that it is allowed by God!

In contrast, poor men do not have the means to pay these large sums, so are not the ones who engage in such marriages.

FOURTH

Others have said that some couples are not resorting to this type of marriages just for sexual reasons but because they are genuinely in love but do not have the means to get married in the conventional way. They add, that this would be a good solution for them.

The questions is: If this couple are genuinely in love, why would they want their marriage to be temporary?

FIFTH

When we come to the verse which is the subject of the manipulation (4:24), we need to read the words carefully and verify how accurate the claims are:

[4:24] Also forbidden are the women who are already married, except what your right hand possesses. This is God’s decree that is binding over you. Beyond those, all others are permitted for you, so long as you employ your money for marriage purposes and not for illicit sex. Those among them who are pleasing to you, you shall pay them their decreed dowries. You commit no error by mutually agreeing to any adjustments to the dowry. God is knowledgeable, Wise.

- When God says “employ your money for marriage purposes and not for illicit sex.” (tabtaghu b’amwalikum muhsineen ghayr musafiheen) God speaks about God’s definition of marriage and not the convenient sex contract which some people call marriage.

- When God says “Those among them who are pleasing to you, you shall pay them their decreed ‘ujoor’ (dowries)” (fama istamtaatum bihi minhum fa’ituhhunna ujurahhunna) God here is not saying whatever pleasure you get from women you should pay for! God is not speaking about cash for sex! The whole concept of all these verses (starting from 4:22) is marriage as authorised by God. What God is saying in 4:24 is that if a woman is pleasing to the man, then he may marry her as long as he pays her the dowry.

To corrupt these words and make them mean that God is allowing men to have sex (with a fake temporary contract) is an insult to God and the righteousness which God advocates.

SIXTH

God tells us in 18:109 that He is not short of words, which means that God gives us all the details in clear words. If God deems that additional words are needed to make a meaning clear God would have added them, God is not short of words.

We cannot see anywhere in the Quran any mention of temporary marriages! Has God forgotten to mention these marriages? The legalisation of this Mut’ah marriages can only be derived by some interpreters through manipulating some Quranic verses such as 4:24.

God's law is derived from clear unambiguous words in the Quran and not by means of deviated interpretations.

Whatever they come up with, the fact will always remain that there are no words in the Quran which allow marriage to be drawn for a specified limited time in order to satisfy the sexual needs of the human being.

Once again we stress that God is not short of words.

Rather, the human being who engages in such falsehood should be ashamed for corrupting and manipulating God's words in order to indulge in sin. This scandalous type of marriage, which is no more than disguised prostitution, is one good example for what God calls disguised sin (6:120).

SEVENTH

Finally, and in view of all the above considerations, it can be said without any shadow of doubt that a temporary marriage for the purpose of sexual activities is immoral and in violation of the laws of marriage as designed by God. The Mut’ah marriage is no more than a feeble attempt to ascribe legality to an act of paid sex. In other words, it is an attempt to legalise prostitution.

Whoever claims that this is legalised by God is actually insulting God!

God never advocates sin (7:28), thus God would never allow this arrangement.

Those who insist that God allowed Mut’ah marriages are in fact attributing lies to God, for they are in actual fact saying that God objects to prostitution if it is not accompanied by a contract, and that God is totally happy with the same paid act as long as it is written on a piece of paper!