TEMPORARY MARRIAGE IS THE VERY SOLUTION
We have discussed the wisdom of Allah when we talked about the offering of two prayers at the same time and said that Allah is Kind to His people; He has created them, and so He guides them to what benefits them because He is Beneficent, Merciful. And since Allah is Kind to His people, so He always wants easiness for them. He says:
Should He not know what He created? And He is the Knower of the subtleties, the Aware. 1
How can a reasonable one imagine that Allah has created man weak and created in him the sexual instinct that is terribly excited, and then He determined severe punishment on him by either whipping or stoning when he would satisfy this unruly instinct?
Can we convince others to embrace Islam when we show these rulings and then we say that Allah is merciful to His people, Allah wants easiness for them, He does not impose on man what he cannot bear, or that He has not made in religion any embarrassment or hardship?
Before we try to convince others, can we convince ourselves with this justification? Certainly not!
The sexual intercourse may be practiced without raping, violence, or force, but with mutual love, satisfaction, and agreement between a man and a woman where there is no harm against anyone, and that precaution is observed so that pregnancy and
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1 Qur'an, 67:14.
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birth do not take place. Should such a man, who satisfies a desire of a woman whose abstinence and chastity prevent her from committing adultery, be killed? We must think deeply on this subject, especially when we see the injustice of our societies against woman.
All that does not let inside me a bit of doubt that Allah the Almighty, Who has permitted a sick one or a traveler not to fast in the month of Ramadan and to offer the half of prayers, or to offer the prayer while sitting or lying down in some cases, Who has permitted Muslims to perform tayammum with earth when there is no water, Who has permitted a faithful to pretend unfaith in some cases to preserve his life, properties, and honor, and has permitted Muslims to sleep with their wives in the nights of Ramadan, because He knows that it is too difficult for man and woman to abstain from sexual intercourse for a month that He has said,
"It is made lawful for you to go in unto your wives on the night of the fast. They are raiment for you and you are raiment for them. Allah is Aware that you were deceiving yourselves in this respect and He has turned in mercy toward you and relieved you. So hold intercourse with them" 1 so if it is so, how would Allah ignore the sexual lust that He Himself has created and is aware of its furiousness and bad results that might destroys societies?
Allah has created woman for man and created man for woman for the sake of tranquility and peacefulness. Allah the Glorified says :
And one of His signs is that He created you from dust, then lo! you are mortals ranging widely. And of His signs is that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy; most surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect. 2
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1 Qur'an, 2:187.
2 Qur'an, 30:20-21.
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These verses talk about men and women altogether; Allah has created both man and woman from earth, and made one as a mate to each other that each may find peace and tranquility with the other.
Thus, Allah must put a solution to this instinct so that both the male and the female live a pleasant life full of love, mercy, and tranquility.
All Muslims have agreed that Allah had mercy on his people, men and women, when He permitted for them the temporary marriage. This mercy came down while Muslims were in utmost need of it. The great companions, who were examples in faith and piety, could not he patient with their sexual desires. They complained to the Prophet (a.s.) and asked him to permit them to castrate themselves.
Al-Bukhari has mentioned in his Sahih that Qays ibn Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "We were with the messenger of Allah in a battle, and there were no women (wives) with us. We said, '0 messenger of Allah, can we castrate ourselves?' He prohibited us from doing that. Then, he permitted us to marry women (in temporary marriage) for a garment (as simple dowry), and then he recited:
0 you who believe! do not forbid (yourselves) the good things which Allah has made lawful for you. 1"
2
Praise be to Allah! Glorified is He! How kind and merciful He is to His people!
The Prophet (a.s.) prohibits his companions from castration and permits to them temporary marriage. He prohibits them from forbidding temporary marriage because it is from the good things that Allah has permitted for them. This is a clear evidence on the mercy of Allah to His people, lest they harm themselves by castration which has been prohibited.
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1 Qur'an, 5:87.
2 Sahih al-Bukhari, vol. 5 p. 189.
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Therefore, sexual desire is a nature in man that must be satisfied and not suppressed, because its suppression causes psychological and bodily diseases. Man (and woman) has to satisfy this desire within the legal limits that Allah has determined and the Prophet (a.s.) has declared to Muslims.
This great mercy (temporary marriage) that Allah had given to His people and all Muslims acknowledged its lawfulness in the Holy Qur'an were prohibited later on, and most of people claimed that it was prohibited by the Prophet (a.s.).
We say to these people that this claim cannot be accepted by sound reason, because this gift of Allah was permitted to solve the problem of the sexual desires for a Muslim man and a Muslim woman. Then, is this problem no longer available so that this permission is to be annulled? Or does the Prophet (a.s.) have the right to prohibit what Allah has permitted? Is there, in the Islamic Sharia, one thing that Allah had permitted for His people, and then He prohibited it?
By Allah no! There is nothing of that at all. May Allah have mercy on Ameerul Mo'minin (a.s.) who said:
Temporary marriage is a mercy that Allah have sent to His servants. Were it not for the prohibition of Umar, no one would commit adultery except a wretched one!
1
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1 Refer to Temporary marriage by Abdullah al-Fakiki, and To be with the Truthful by Muhammad at-Teejani as-Sammawi (the author of this book) where he mentions the sources of this tradition. From among the books that have been written on Temporary Marriage is al-Fusool al-Muhimmah by Sayyid Sharafuddeen al-Aamili, Juristic Questions by the same author, al-Baran by Sayyid al-Khoei, al-Ghadir by Allama al-Amini, Mut'ah (temporary marriage) in Islam by Sayyid Husayn Mekki, Temporary Marriage by Savvid Muhammad Taqi al-Kakeem, Temporary Marriage in Islam, by Sayyid Ja'far Murtadha, and the introduction of Mir'aitul Uqool
It is said that Imam Malik has permitted temporary marriage. Refer to al-Hidayah fee Sharh al-Bidayah, p. 385, Poulaq Press, primed with al-Fatth al-Qadeer. It is also said that Ahmed ibn Hanbal has permitted it at
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In this discussion, we do not want to prove the legality of temporary marriage, for we have already proved that in our book "To be With the Truthful', but we want to say that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) have said it is lawful until the Day of Resurrection, quoting their grandfather the messenger of Allah (a.s.), and we say that the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) have done Muslims great favors, which have preserved their religion and high values that keep pace with all ages and face all challenges.
1
In the end, Muslims shall find no way that leads to the best, except the way of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) and no school that complies with modern ages and overcomes all challenges, except the school of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) that have been based on the Qur'an and the Prophetic Sunna. Allah says :
Is He then Who guides to the truth more worthy to be followed, or he who himself does not go aright unless he is guided? What then is the matter with you; how do you judge? 2
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necessity; refer to Tafsir ibn Kathir, vol. 1 p. 474, and some other companions!
There are traditions narrated from Ibn Abbas, Ubay ibn Ka'b, Mujahid, Sa'eed ibn Jubayr, ibn Mas'ud, as-Sadiy and others who when reciting this verse (And those of whom you seek content (by marrying them) TO A FIXED TERM). There are about more than twenty traditionists and exegetes from the Sunni who have said that temporary marriage is lawful.
1 Since the matter of sex brings societies heavy burdens, some Sunni ulama, after having found that temporary marriage is a lawful way to solve many problems, began permitting it to their youth, but under different names and with different facades!
2 Qur'an, 10:35.
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TEMPORARY MARRIAGE WAS LEGISLATED
FOR WOMAN'S WELFARE
Temporary marriage is a divine mercy that Allah has endowed on His servants. It is for the welfare of men and women with no difference. However and as we have said before, men have absolute freedom and they can enjoy themselves in the public places that are founded for this purpose and protected by the law. Moreover, men have the right to marry two, three, or four wives at the same time; therefore, sexual pleasure is available to them wherever and whenever they like.
On this basis, I can deduce that temporary marriage, which Allah has permitted, is to make the rights of woman be equal to the rights of man in this concern, because this kind of marriage does not prevent woman from getting married to more than one man and even to many if she observes the iddah and the other conditions of this marriage. The only difference between man and woman in this concern is that man can get married to four women at the same time, but woman cannot get married even to two men at the same time. This is because of the reason that we have mentioned before that there is a possibility that the sperms of two men may gather in the womb of one woman, and then it is not known which man is the father of the child created in the woman's womb, whereas this is impossible for the man who has many wives.
This is the rule of Allah that we find even in tame animals that live with us. If we put a ewe with two rams, there shall be a bloody quarrel leading to the death of one of them. If we suppose that both rams copulate with the ewe, then we are not certain
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which of them impregnates the ewe. If we put one ram with a herd of ewes, there shall be no quarrel, and we are certain that all the born sheep are children of that ram. What we say about rams and ewes can be said about hens and cocks, rabbits, camels, cows, goats ... etc. Allah says :
There is no animal that walks upon the earth, nor a bird that flies with its two wings but (they are) genera like yourselves. 1
Once, someone said to me, "If the matter is so, then a sterile woman can get married to two men at the same time, because the cause has fallen off."
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I said, "This is not possible, because the Islamic rulings are not limited to causes that when a cause is fallen off, the ruling is annulled. If we say that the cause of the prohibition of wine is the loss of one's reason where Allah says,
"O you who believe! do not go near prayer when you are intoxicated until you know (well) what you say," 3 then the one, who drinks a cup or two of wine and is not intoxicated, is not to undergo the ruling! Certainly not, O my friend! That, whose much quantity causes intoxication, the little of it (even one drop) is unlawful. And if we say that the cause of the prohibition of pig is impurity and filthiness, then eating its meat shall be lawful when it is sterilized and all microbes are removed! The rulings of Allah do not rely on only one cause. There may be many causes that no one knows except Allah the Almighty. Therefore, we must be satisfied with the rulings of Allah and accept them willingly and submissively,
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1 Qur'an, 6:38.
2 The matter is not material only. Today, science shows us a quick result whether there is pregnancy or not, but the matter is related to moral and spiritual things; the material purity of the womb is not the basis. For example, the woman, whose husband divorces her after he has not slept with her for a long time that may be years for some reasons, has to undergo the iddah since the first moment of divorce.
3 Qur'an, 4:34.
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because Allah does not want for His people except what brings them good and prosperity. Allah says :
Is it then the judgment of (the times of) ignorance that they desire? And who is better than Allah to judge for a people who are sure? 1
That is Allah's judgment; He judges between you, and Allah is Knowing, Wise. 2
Therefore, Muslims have to be submissive and obedient. Allah says :
It behoves not a believing man and a believing woman that they should have any choice in their matter when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter; and whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he surely strays off a manifest straying. 3
On this basis, believing men and believing women have to accept the decree of Allah concerning the matter of temporary marriage and to thank Him for this mercy, especially woman whom Allah has given through this marriage all the rights, whereas man only has the right to accept or not.
In the continuous marriage, man has "the right of bed" that whenever he asks her wife to sleep with, she has no right to refuse. A husband has the right to sleep with his wife whenever he likes. She even has no right, legally, to fast recommendable fasting (not in Ramadan) except by his permission. Allah says :
Your wives are a tilth for you, so go into your tilth whenever you like. 4
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1 Qur'an, 5:50.
2 Qur'an, 60:10.
3 Qur'an, 33:36.
4 Qur'an, 2:223.
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Man has also been given the right to divorce his wife. Allah says :
0 Prophet! when you divorce women, divorce them for their prescribed time (iddah). 1
Man also has been given the right to return his wife (to marital life) before the end of the iddah. Allah says :
Their husbands have a better right to take them back in the meanwhile if they wish for reconciliation. 2
Man has the right too to divorce his wife three times (trio-divorce). Allah says :
Divorce may be (pronounced) twice, then keep (them) in good fellowship or let (them) go with kindness ... and if he divorces her (for third time), she shall not be lawful to him afterwards. 3
Man has been given the right to marry more than one wife (at the same time). Allah says :
Then, marry women as seems good to you, two and three and four. 4
However, in temporary marriage everything is in the hand of woman; she is the one to decide. She recites the wording of the marriage contract, and man only accepts or refuses. Woman is the one who determines the period of this marriage, and consequently determines her divorce with no condition or tie. She has the right to put any condition she likes against man. She may say to the husband, for example: On condition that you do not leave me all this time and do not marry other than me. Or she may say: on condition that you do not have sexual intercourse with me, or on condition of sexual intercourse but to ejaculate out of the womb lest I bear. Or she may say: on condition that we spend the honey-month in Holy Mecca.
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1 Qur'an, 65:1.
2 Qur'an, 2:228.
3 Qur'an, 2:229-230.
4 Qur'an, 4:3.
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In temporary marriage, woman can stipulate whatever she likes. Allah Says :
Then as to those of whom you seek content (by marrying them), give them their dowries as appointed; and there is no blame on you about what you mutually agree after what is appointed; surely Allah is Knowing, Wise. 1
It suffices woman as honor that she can marry herself in temporary marriage without the permission of her guardian (her father for example). In another word, it is woman who gets married to man in this kind of marriage.
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1 Qur'an, 4 : 24
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TEMPORARY MARRIAGE AND ITS BENEFITS
Unfortunately, Muslims do not look at this marriage except by the eye of criticism. They do not discuss except its negative points, which are very little, and do not see its positive points which are very many.
In fact, every thing has negative and positive points. As this kind of marriage was not practiced since the time of Umar ibn al-Khattab, who prohibited it with no any legal cause, so people consider it as adultery and they look at it disgustingly. This does not mean that it is disgusting, but because people have neither known nor practiced it.
It is like the offering of two prayers at one time, or like the khums, or wiping the feet in wudu. Despite that they have been available in the Holy Qur'an and despite that the Prophet (a.s.) has practiced and ordered Muslims to practiced them, most of people arc ignorant of them. Muslims find them strange for nothing, but just because they are not familiar with them in their daily life.
You see that they do not find adultery so strange as they find temporary marriage strange! A young woman often tried to incite some young man to commit adultery with her. When he refused and suggested that they should get married in temporary marriage, she refused and said that she did not know this kind of marriage.
If you argue about the matter of temporary marriage with Sunni scholars and prove its legality by irrefutable proofs from al-
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Bukhari and Muslim and when they are embarrassed before the evidences, they say that this marriage is a kind of humiliation to woman. When you prove to them the opposite, they begin nonsensing and say: do you marry me your sister or daughter in temporary marriage?
They speak with the mentality of domination over woman. They often say that woman cannot marry herself (to someone by her will) and that her marriage is in the hand of her guardian. They think that woman is like a cow that is sold and bought, and that she has no right to choose her husband. Indeed, this is the very humiliation to woman and not her temporary marriage.
Temporary marriage is a mercy from Allah for woman and it is not a kind of humiliation. She has the full right to refuse temporary marriage and no one can ever force her to accept it. If they think that this kind of marriage is humiliation to woman, then what do they say about polygamy where another fellow wife or other fellow wives are brought in spite of her and without her agreement or willingness to participate with her in everything; her husband, her house, and later on the inheritance? Is this worse or that when her husband gets married for a short period (temporary marriage) to some woman who shall participate the wife in nothing, besides that this wife may not know anything at all about that marriage, which shall end soon, and about that second wife, who shall leave hack for her own life?
We have said before that temporary marriage within its legal conditions and limits is for the advantage of woman and not for her disadvantage. As temporary marriage is not obligatory and as it cannot be imposed on anyone, man or woman, against his or her unwillingness, so what for is all this nonsense, defamation, and accusation?
I am so sorry for this afflicted nation that claim the love to the Prophet's progeny (a.s.), while it contradicts them in all rulings which they narrated from their grandfather the Prophet Muhammad (a.s.) and did according to these rulings. Despite that
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Ja'fari School (Shiism), which is the jurisprudence of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.), is taught in al-Azhar University in Cairo, many people, because of fanaticism, still doubt it and doubt its belonging to Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.).
It is certain that the twelve infallible imams (a.s.), at the head of whom is Imam Ali (a.s.), called among people for the legality of temporary marriage and said that it was a mercy for people. Abdullah Ibn Abbas, as well, often said to people that temporary marriage was lawful. Muslims were divided into two parties; one of minority who followed and did according to the doing of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.), and the other one of great majority who followed the caliphs (but not Imam Ali) and companions.
Matters have remained until now as they were before; the followers of the Ahlul Bayt (a.s.) see temporary marriage as lawful, and the followers of the caliphs see it as unlawful.
After all and as we offer this study, we do not want to force anyone to accept it. People are free in choosing what they see as true, but we have to uncover the hidden facts so that the truth becomes clear and shiny before whoever intends and looks for it.
In our view, temporary marriage has many benefits :
1. If a male student and a female student, who live together throughout the school year while they are in the age of intensity of sexual passions, get married temporarily, they shall be in intimate companionship and association even if they do not have sexual intercourse when they both agree to this condition. This may last for the period of their study, and after that, they can decide either to separate, or conclude a contract of continuous marriage if they want. In fact, the first marriage shall give the two spouses more chance to know each other in the best way and shall be able to get over all the obstacles that may face them in their continuous marital life.
This marriage shall give them relief, peace, and tranquility and make them proceed with their studies easily. Their relation shall
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be lawful and honest and shall make their consciences satisfied and pleased, and consequently Allah will be pleased with them. They shall be safe from troubles and suspicious looks of other students, who when know about this marriage shall stop their troubles.
But, if a female student moves from one young man to another, having in her handbag tens of love letters from this and that, besides contraceptives for fear of pregnancy and scandal, and if young men move from one girl to another to taste the honey of each one, as bees tasting flowers, and play with the fates, futures, and feelings of those girls, paying no any attention to the honors, dignities, and feelings of their families, and when those girls finish their studies and come back to their homes followed by suspicions and accusations that shall cause them tens of complexes arising from the lefts of those traitors who promise and, after satisfying their desires, leave those deflowered girls alone to be later on filled with rage and spite against the society and to try avenging for themselves by every means, it shall be found not strange by those pretending scholars!!!
2. A traveler, who travels for a long period away from his home and wife, may be able to be patient (with his sexual desire), but if not, he has to get married in temporary marriage to assure his easiness, tranquility, and faith. His wife may agree willingly when she knows that her husband has followed the lawful way and kept away from unlawful ways. A wife knows her husband well and shall prefer him to be in the house of an honest and upright woman, who gets married to protect her honor and honesty and make use of Allah's mercy, rather than to look for a prostitute in a street every day who shall take his money and give him fatal diseases after having slept with other men many times on the same day. Surely, there is nothing of that in temporary marriage, from among whose conditions is that the woman having married in temporary marriage has no right to remarry except after having undergone all the iddah of her first marriage which is a period of two menstruations or two months for a woman in menopause.
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3. Temporary marriage can solve the problem of a spinster who has not married for a reason or another. Islam permits her to satisfy her desire in this lawful way.
4. Temporary marriage also solves the problem of a widow who does not want to marry in continuous marriage for the sake of her children or any other reason.
5. How often it happens in our Arabic societies that a beautiful woman falls in love with a teenager or a young man in the age of her son. This woman may sleep with this teenager and remain doing so secretly in unlawful association. Temporary marriage makes their association lawful and preserves their honor and dignity.
6. A woman, who is afraid to travel alone or that some countries may prevent her from traveling except with a non-mahram, can conclude a contract of temporary marriage just for the purpose of travel. Marriage in this case can be without sexual intercourse.
7. A man, who has a female servant at home, is not permitted by Islam to touch any part of her body or look at her while unveiled, and her full veil may embarrass her when doing her job in the house and before her master. This man can conclude a contract of temporary marriage between his little boy' and the servant inasmuch as the period of her employment, and thus she becomes his daughter-in-law who is mahram to him. In this way, there shall be no problem or embarrassment.
8. A young woman, who remains alone for hours in the house of a man for learning special lessons or a foreign language, or any other reason, can conclude a contract of temporary marriage with
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1 The boy may be no more than some years, and it is not intended in a such kind of marriage the sexual intercourse, but just to make lawful through this marriage what is unlawful without it. This does not mean to make lawful what Allah has prohibited, for this is of disbelief, but to follow what the Sharia may permit. Shaking hands with a non-mahram woman is not lawful, but it becomes lawful after a legal contract of marriage with that woman.
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that man to avoid that forbidden privacy, about which the Prophet (a.s.) said, "No man and a woman are alone in privacy except that Satan becomes the third of them." In this way, this privacy shall be lawful and the woman can put off her hijab before her teacher or shake hands with him. However, she can stipulate any condition she wants.
There are many other cases where temporary marriage becomes mercy for people lest they commit sins, which may cause the society much corruption and many bodily and psychological diseases. Temporary marriage, in many cases, is the only solution to save society from these diseases and to preserve honors, lineages, dignities, and nobilities.
1
Say : Surely Allah does not enjoin indecency; do you say against Allah what you do not know.2
Surely Allah enjoins the doing of justice and the doing of good (to others) and the giving to the kindred, and He forbids indecency and evil and oppression; He admonishes you that you may be mindful. 3
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1 When I was preparing a thesis for higher studies in one of the Sunni colleges, I heard one of the female officials of the college blaming a teacher why he did not visit her the last night where she had prepared a gateau and been waiting for him. The teacher was trying to apologize.
I say: if there is no contract of continuous marriage or temporary marriage, then what shall he the legal excuse for them to meet and mix males and females?!!
2 Qur'an, 7:28.
3 Qur'an, 16:90.
