From: ali@babar.inria.fr (Ali Atie)
Subject: Temporary marriage in Qur'an and Hadiths
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Originator: Mughal@Romeo.Caltech.Edu (Asim Mughal -Moderator)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 16:36:00 GMT


[Postmarked: 12 Jul 92 13:16:36 GMT]

Assalam alaikum,

From The Qur'an
---------------
Allah(SWT) said:
  "Wal-muhsanat mina nisaa illa ma malakat aimanikum kitaballah
   alaikum wa uhilla lakum ma waraa thalikum an tabtaghu bi 
   amwalikum muhsineen ghaira musafiheen fama istamtaatum bihi 
                                         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   minhunna fa atuhunna ujurahunna faridhatan wala junaha alaikum
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   fima taradhaitum bihi min baadil faridha inna Allah kana aleeman
   hakima"  (4:24)

which could be translated to:
  "And all married women except those whom your right
   hands possess (this is) Allah's ordinance to you, and lawful for
   you are (all women) besides those, provided that you seek (them)
   with your property, taking (them) in marriage not committing
   fornication. Then as to those whom you profit by, 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."

Foolows is the explanation of the above verse made by sunni Ulemas:
"Ibn Abbas, Ubay Ben Kaab, Saeed Ben Jubair and Al-Sady were used to
read: Then as to those whom you profit by for a fixed time ...
                                           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and adding the sentence "for a fixed time" was for explaining the 
target of the verse.  And Mujahed said: This verse was sent down
to allow the temporary marriage. And Ubay Ben Kaab said: I heard
the Prophet(sAaas) saying "for a fixed time" to explain the verse."
                  Tafsir Ibn Katheer 1/474 , 2/87
                  Tafsir Tabari      5/9
                  Explanation of Nawawi from Sahih Muslim 9/179
                  Sunan Bayhaqi      7/205
                  Tafsir Qartabi     5/130

From the Hadiths
----------------
We see in a previous posting a Hadith transmitted by Bukhari, Muslim and Ahmad
on the authority of Abdullah Ben Masoud where the Prophet(sAaas) allowed
the temporary marriage. Follows are some other Hadiths:
On the authority of Jaber Ben Abdullah and Salama Ben Al-Akua:
"A companion came to us and said on the behalf of the Prophet(sAaas):
  Allah(SWT) makes temporary marriage lawful for you".
                                    Bukhari  3/164

On the authority of Jaber:
"We made temporary marriage in the lifetime of the Prophet(sAaas) and
 when Umar become Caliph, he said: i prevent you from making such marriage"
               Bayhaqi 5/21
               Muslim  885 Bab Mutta Al-Hajj, Hadith 145.

"Every man and woman who mutually agree on temporary marriage, frequent 
 each other three days, then if they wish they prolong or separate."
               Bukhari 3/164

Muslim titled his research on temporary marriage (Bab Nukah Al-Muta) as follows:
  "Bayan annahu Ubiha thumma nusikha thumma ubiha thumma nusikha"
which is translated to:
  "Show that it was made lawful then unlawful then lawful then unlawful"

Ibn katheer also confirmed that it was made lawful then unlawful TWICE. (1/474)
Al-Shafyi and other sunni Ulema repeated that too.

Umar himself testified that he was behind forbidding temporary marriage
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Umran Ben Sawada came to Umar and said:
"your people said that you forbidded Mutta which Allah(SWT) made
 lawful. So Umar replied: The Prophet(sAaas) allowed it in a time
 of necessity, now people live comfortably, so whoever wants to
 marry with a woman can do it (permanently) then divorce ..."  Tabari 5/32

Umar proposed the marriage then the divorce as a solution that substitutes for
Mutta. We believe that his proposition could be understood in only TWO ways:
  1. A mutuel agreement on divorce before marriage which is
     the definition of temporary marriage.
  2. A man hides his intention to divorce when first marrying with a woman
     which is a bad act of treachery and humiliation towards women.
I think (according to a sunni brother, could anyone confirm or deny that ?) 
that at least one of the four sunni scholars believes that 
hiding intention to divorce when starting a marriage is lawful 
in Islam (auzu billah).

Conclusion
----------
A while ago, some sunni brothers in this net made a comparison
between drinking Alcohol and marrying temporary. They said that 
temporary marriage, like drinking Alcohol, was made lawful and then
unlawful step by step.
The above Hadiths invalidate any comparison between temporary marriage
and the other things which were made unlawful step by step (for ONCE).
Such comparison could be acceptable if the cancelling of Mutta 
legitimacy was made only ONCE not TWICE. The temporary marriage is not
an exception in the Islamic sharia to be made lawful then unlawful 
TWICE. If it was the case, what is the point on such confusion ????

The above should lead muslims to look through the fabricated Hadiths on
preventing temporary marriage. My research showed me that there is somewhere 
a finger which fabricated such Hadiths and attributed a chain of 
transmitters to them in order to support Ijtihad Umar on preventing temporary 
marriage. This finger was thought to be an Umayyad one, after Caliph Ibn-Zubair. 
Why after Caliph Ibn-Zubair ? Since before that, Ibn Abbas and his companions 
were used to say publicly that temporary marriage is lawful, so if the Hadiths
about forbidding it existed before, we should have found someone who counterargue
with them bringing his proof from such Hadiths. The same above logic is applied
in the lifetime of Umar, Uthman , etc... Look at the proof:
    On the authority of Ibn Shahab:
    "Khaled Ben Al-Muhajer Ben Saifellah told me that when he was sitting
     with a man, another one came to him and asked him on Mutta, so the 
     man replied that it is allowed and that it was made in the lifetime of
     Imam Al-Muttaqeen (a reference to the Prophet(sAaas))."
                                          Muslim Page 1026 h 27
                                          Bayhaqi      7/205
The man was Ibn Abbas, this is what Abdel Razzaq confirm (Abdel Razzaq 7/502) 
in his version of history. Anyways, we can see obviously that nobody replied
to the man, which proves that he was a respected Alem (Ibn Abbas according
to Abdel Razzaq), and that Hadiths about forbidding Mutta' were not
already fabricated. Qartabi (a sunni Alem) confirm that the companions of 
Ibn Abbas keep on saying that Mutta is lawful (Qartabi 5/133).


Ali Muhamad Atie'.