Ruling on Temporary Marriage (Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah) in the Light of Ḥadīth
Source: Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī
❖ Question:
What is the ruling on Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah (temporary marriage)?
✿ Answer:
The Sharīʿah of Muḥammad ﷺ is a perfect and complete code of life, valid until the Day of Judgment. It admits no alteration, for it has established permanent laws suited to every age and circumstance.
Just as intoxicants were prohibited gradually—first by pointing out their harms, then forbidding them during prayer times, and finally declaring them permanently ḥarām—so too was Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah (temporary marriage) allowed for a time under specific circumstances, but was later prohibited forever.
Thus, citing early incidents of permissibility before its abrogation cannot justify its practice today. Mutʿah is permanently prohibited due to its severe harms on both individuals and society.
✦ Why Mutʿah Was Prohibited
❀ Sharʿī Nikāḥ ensures chastity, permanence, love, tranquility, and protects lineage.
❀ Mutʿah, on the other hand, destroys chastity, spreads immorality, leads to confusion of lineage, negates the rights of the walī (guardian), and promotes promiscuity.
❀ Even Shīʿī sources acknowledge its flaws. For example:
- Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-Ṭūsī (d. 460H) wrote:
“A man is not even obliged to ask a woman if she already has a husband or not.” (al-Nihāyah, p. 490) - Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan al-Ḥurr al-ʿĀmilī (d. 1104H) admitted:
“The permissibility of Mutʿah is among the necessities of the Imāmī Shīʿah sect.” (Wasāʾil al-Shīʿah 7/245)
✦ Consensus (Ijmaʿ) of the Ummah
❀ The entire Ummah is united that Mutʿah is abrogated and void.
- ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar رضي الله عنه narrated:
When ʿUmar رضي الله عنه became Caliph, he declared:
“The Messenger of Allah ﷺ permitted Mutʿah three times, then prohibited it. By Allah, if I ever find someone married through Mutʿah, I will stone him—unless he can bring four witnesses that the Prophet ﷺ permitted it after prohibiting it.”
(Sunan Ibn Mājah 1963; Musnad al-Bazzār 183, ḥasan sanad) - Imām al-Khaṭīb al-Baghdādī (d. 463H):
“The prohibition of Mutʿah is established by ijmāʿ (consensus).” (al-Faqīh wa al-Mutafaqqih 1/339) - Al-Maqdisī (d. 490H):
Explained that ʿUmar رضي الله عنه’s public prohibition in the presence of the Muhājirīn and Anṣār, with no objection, constitutes consensus of all Ṣaḥābah. (Taḥrīm Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah, p. 77) - Imām Fakhr al-Rāzī (d. 601H) argued that had Mutʿah been lawful, the Companions would not have remained silent at ʿUmar’s declaration. Their silence proves agreement on its abrogation. (Tafsīr al-Rāzī 3/287)
- Imām Ibn al-Mundhir (d. 319H):
“At first Mutʿah was permitted, but today I do not know anyone who allows it except the Rāfiḍah. Their claim against Qurʾān and Sunnah has no weight.” (al-Ishrāf 1/61; Fatḥ al-Bārī 9/78) - Imām Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr (d. 463H):
“The Companions, the Tābiʿīn, and the jurists unanimously agreed on the prohibition of Mutʿah.” (al-Tamhīd 10/121) - Al-Baghawī (d. 516H):
“Scholars have agreed on the prohibition of Mutʿah; it is ijmāʿ among Muslims.” (Sharḥ al-Sunnah 9/100)
✦ Prophetic Prohibition
From ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib رضي الله عنه:
«أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ نَهَى عَنِ الْمُتْعَةِ وَعَنْ لُحُومِ الْحُمُرِ الْأَهْلِيَّةِ يَوْمَ خَيْبَر»
“The Prophet ﷺ forbade Mutʿah and the flesh of domesticated donkeys on the Day of Khaybar.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5115, 4216; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1407)
ʿAlī رضي الله عنه further said to Ibn ʿAbbās رضي الله عنه when he heard of his leniency:
“O Ibn ʿAbbās! Stop giving this fatwā, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prohibited Mutʿah on the Day of Khaybar.” (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1407/31)
Conclusion
◈ Nikāḥ al-Mutʿah was initially allowed under certain circumstances but was later abrogated and prohibited forever.
◈ The prohibition is established by Qurʾān, Sunnah, and consensus of the entire Ummah.
◈ Practicing or permitting it today is against ijmāʿ and equivalent to reviving an abrogated practice.
