Mut'ah
- philhoraia
- Dec 9, 2022
- 9 min read
S 4:24 And the muhsanat of the women except what your right hands have possessed, a book of Allah upon you. And made lawful for you is what is beyond that, that you seek with your money, being fortified, not musafihun. So what you have enjoyed of it from them, give them their wages as an obligation. And there is no transgression on you concerning what you have agreed upon after the obligation. Allah was learned, wise.
In The Four Pillars Of Mut'a, we read:
In books on jurisprudence the terms mut'a, al-nikah al-munqati' ('discontinued marriage'), and al-nikah al-muwaqqat ('temporary marriage') are all employed. Al-Muhaqqiq al-Hilli1 still employs the term 'discontinued marriage' in his writings,2 and hence his commentators use the same expression, although in sections of the statutes relating to this kind of marriage they also employ the terms istimta' and the related word tamattu'. Al-Shahid al Thani3 employs the same term as al-Hilli4 , but others, such as al-Shahid al-Awwal,5 al-'Allama al-Hilli6 and al-Shaykh al-Ansari7 prefer the term mut'a.8
Among Sunni jurisprudents there is a discussion concerning whether or not the marriage of mut'a is the same as 'temporary marriage'. Most of them have agreed that they are synonymous.9
In some works a special term is applied to women who participate in mut'a: musta'jara, or 'rented woman'. Mut'a is considered a kind of 'rental' because in general a man's basic aim in this kind of marriage is the sexual enjoyment of a woman, and in return for his enjoyment the woman receives a certain amount of money or property.
In defining 'rental' the jurisprudents say: 'It is to gain possession of a benefit in exchange for a specified sum.'10 This definition applies equally to temporary marriage. In this connection a number of hadith have been recorded in which the word musta'jara is employed.11 The Four Pillars Of Mut'a | Muta', Temporary Marriage in Islamic Law | Al-Islam.org
Narrated Jabir bin `Abdullah and Salama bin Al-Akwa`:
While we were in an army, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to us and said, "You have been allowed to do the Mut'a (marriage), so do it."
Salama b. al. Akwa' and Jabir b. Abdullah reported:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came to us and permitted us to contract temporary marriage.
It was narrated from Rabi'bin Sabrah that his father said :
"We went out with the Messenger of Allah on the Farewell pilgrimage, and they said : 'O Messenger of Allah, (ﷺ) celibacy has become too difficult for us'. He said : 'Then make temporary marriages with these women'. So we went to them, but they insisted on setting a fixed time between us and them. They mentioned that to the Prophet and he said : 'Set a fixed time between you and them.' So I went out with a cousin of mine. He had a cloak and I had a cloak, but his cloak was finer than mine, and I was younger than him. We came to a women and she said: 'One cloak is like another.' So I married her and stayed with her that night. Then the next day I saw the Messenger of Allah standing between the Rukn (corner) and the door (of the Ka'bah), saying : 'O people, I had permitted temporary marriage for you, but Allah has forbidden it until the Day of Resurrection. however had any temporary wives, he should let them go, and do not take back anything that you had given to them.' "
Abu Nadra reported:
While I was in the company of Jabir b. Abdullah, a person came to him and said that Ibn 'Abbas and Ibn Zubair differed on the two types of Mut'as (Tamattu' of Hajj 1846 and Tamattu' with women), whereupon Jabir said: We used to do these two during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Umar then forbade us to do them, and so we did not revert to them.
It was narrated that Abu Musa said that:
he used to issue Fatwas concerning Tamattu' Then a man said to him: "Withhold some of your Fatwas ,for you do not know what the commander of the Believers introduced into the rites subsequently." Then when I met him, I asked him. 'Umar said: "I know that the Messenger of Allah and his companions did it, but I did not like that people should lay with their wives in the shade of the Arak trees, and then go out for Hajj with their heads dripping."
'Urwa b. Zabair reported that 'Abdullah b. Zubair (Allah be pleased with him) stood up (and delivered an address) in Mecca saying:
Allah has made blind the hearts of some people as He has deprived them of eyesight that they give religious verdict in favour of temporary marriage, while he was alluding to a person (Ibn 'Abbas). Ibn Abbas called him and said: You are an uncouth person, devoid of sense. By my life, Mut'a was practised during the lifetime of the leader of the pious (he meant Allah's Messenger, may peace be upon him), and Ibn Zubair said to him: just do it yourselves, and by Allah, if you do that I will stone you with your stones. Ibn Shihab said. Khalid b. Muhajir b. Saifullah informed me: While I was sitting in the company of a person, a person came to him and he asked for a religious verdict about Mut'a and he permitted him to do it. Ibn Abu 'Amrah al-Ansari (Allah be pleased with him) said to him: Be gentle. It was permitted in- the early days of Islam, (for one) who was driven to it under the stress of necessity just as (the eating of) carrion and the blood and flesh of swine and then Allah intensified (the commands of) His religion and prohibited it (altogether). Ibn Shihab reported: Rabi' b. Sabra told me that his father (Sabra) said: I contracted temporary marriage with a woman of Banu 'Amir for two cloaks during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) ; then he forbade us to do Mut'a. Ibn Shihab said: I heard Rabi' b. Sabra narrating it to Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz and I was sitting there.
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from Urwa ibn az- Zubayr that Khawla ibn Hakim came to Umar ibn al-Khattab and said, ''Rabia ibn Umayya made a temporary marriage with a woman and she is pregnant by him.'' Umar ibn al-Khattab went out in dismay dragging his cloak, saying, "This temporary marriage, had I come across it, I would have ordered stoning and done away with it! "
Ibn Uraij reported:
'Ati' reported that jibir b. Abdullah came to perform 'Umra, and we came to his abode, and the people asked him about different things, and then they made a mention of temporary marriage, whereupon he said: Yes, we had been benefiting ourselves by this temporary marriage during the lifetime of the Prophet (ﷺ) and during the time of Abu Bakr and 'Umar.
Jabir b. 'Abdullah reported:
We contracted temporary marriage giving a handful of (tales or flour as a dower during the lifetime of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and durnig the time of Abu Bakr until 'Umar forbade it in the case of 'Amr b. Huraith.
It was narrated that Ibn 'Umar said:
"When 'Umar bin Khattab was appointed caliph, he addressed the people and said: 'The Messenger of Allah permitted temporary marriage for us three times, then he forbade it. By Allah, If I hear of any married person entering a temporary marriage, I will stone him to death, unless he can bring me four witnesses who will testify that the Messenger of Allah, allowed it after he forbade it'."
In Islamic literature we read that Aisha's sister, Asma, was a mut'ah whore. From an article:
According to some reports, Asma' bint Abu Bakr, sister of the mother of believers Aisha, admitted to have practiced Muta'a during the life of the prophet.
A large group amongst the pious Salaf deemed Mutah hallal after the death of Rasulullah (s), Imam Nasai narrated from Muslim Qarai that we went before Asma binte Abu Bakr and we asked her about Mutah with women, she said I performed this Mutah during the lifetime of Rasulullah (s)
Reference:
• Allamah Ibn Hajr Asqalani in 'Talkhees al Haseer fi Takhreej al Hadeeth al Rafa al Kabeera' Volume 3 page 159
Musnad al-Tayalassi (#1637) and Mu'ujam al-Tabarani:
We gathered before Asma Binte Abu Bakr and asked her about Mut’ah with women. She said: During the lifetime of Rasulullah(s) I personally contracted Mut’ah....
Maulana Waheed’ud Deen az Zaman (In the Urdu translation of Muwatta Imam Malik page 39) said:
Amongst the great Imams and the majority of the Ulema Nikah Mutah is not permissible, they however acknowledge that Mutah was practised, and was made haraam on the Day of Khayber, it was then practised at Umrah Dhul Qada, it was then made haraam at the time of the victory of Makka, was then allowed at the Battle of Autas, it was then made haraam, it was then allowed at Tabuk, and then made haraam at the time of the Farewell Pilgrimmage. The people benefiited from the continual bans and permissions, some practised Mutah whilst others refrained from it, to the extent that after the death of Rasulullah (s), this state of affairs continued during the reign of Abu Bakr, as was the case with the early portion of Umar’s khilafath, wherein it was deemed to be halaal. Umar then deemed it prohibited on the pulpit and the people subsequently stopped practising Mutah. Some Sahaba continued to maintain the position that Mutah was permissible, such Jabir ibn Abdullah, Abdullah ibn Masud, Abu Saeed, Mu’awiyah, Asma bine Abu Bakr, Abdullah ibn Abbas, Umro bin Harees, Salma bin Akwa. A group amongst the tabieen also upheld the legitimacy to practise Mutah.
Imam al-Shukani said in Nayl al-Awttar:
ibn Hazm mentioned in his book al-Muhalla the following about a group of companions, other then ibn Abbas: a group of companions held the position that Muta'a was halal, and among them were Asma' bint Abu Bakr, Jabir ibn Abdullah, Abdullah ibn Masu'ud, Mua'awiya, Amru ibn Huraith, Abu Sae'ed and Salma, sons of Umayya ibn Khalaf. Jabir narrated that it was practiced during the lifetime of the prophet, the reign of Abu Bakr and till about the end of the reign of Umar. It was also said that Umar refused its practice without the presence of two witnesses. Of the Tabie'en who considered it halal are Tawss, A'atta' and Sae'ed ibn Jubayr, and all the Fuqaha' of Macca. al-Haffedh, in his Talkhees, said after quoting ibn Hazm, that ibn jurayj, the Faqih of Macca, was one of the famous ones who considered Muta'a halal...
Ibn Zubair gave a speech over the pulpit in Mecca when Ibn Abbas was sitting under the pulpit beside other people. Then Ibn Zubair said:
"Among these people is a man whom Allah has made his heart blind as He did with his eyes (referring to Ibn Abbas who was blind at the time); and he thinks that Muta'a of woman is permitted by Allah and his Messenger; and he issues religious verdicts for every single issue; and he has stolen the treasury of Basra yesterday and caused financial problems for the people of that city, and how can I blame him when he fought the mother of believers (Aisha) and the companions of the Messenger of Allah and those who protected him."
Hearing that, Ibn Abbas said to Sa'd Ibn Khuthaimah to take him in front of Ibn Zubair since Ibn Abbas was blind. After he faced Ibn Zubair, Ibn Abbas said:
"O' Ibn Zubair! As for blindness, verily Allah said in Quran that: For indeed it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the bosoms, that grow blind. (Quran 22:46)
And as for my religious verdicts, there are reasons behind them that neither you nor your companions comprehend them. And as for the treasury, it was the money which was collected and we gave every liable person his just share. As for Muta'a, you better ask your mother Asma'! (note: Ibn Zubair was born of Muta'a marriage between Zubair and the daughter of Abu Bakr, Asma'). And as for our fighting the mother of believers, her title is referring to us, not you and your father (i.e., 'believers' is referring to us). Your father (Zubair) and your uncle (Talha) destroyed the protection that Allah provided for her, and used her for Fitna by fighting beside her while keeping their own wives at their homes; and they were not fair to Allah and His Messenger by exposing the wife of the Prophet and protecting their own wives; and as our fight against you (in the battle of Camel), we came forward to you, and if we were infidels (Kuffar) then you have become infidels by running away from us (after being defeated in the battle field), and if we were believers then you have become infidels by fighting against us. And if a woman was not among you, I wouldn't leave any bone among your people unless I would have broken."
When Ibn Zubair came back to his mother and ask her about Muta'a, she replied: "Did I not warn you from facing Ibn Abbas and facing Bani Hashim (The clan of the Prophet, because they have answer for everything. O my son! Avoid this blind man for neither human nor unseen creatures (Jinn) can corner him." al-hadi.net
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