Contract Marriage in Sunni Islam

In Sunni sources, hadiths of the Prophet were transmitted, showing that he had banned mut`a during his lifetime. In most Sunni “sound collections” (sihah), “Ali” is said to have said, “Truly, the Prophet of God forbade the silence of temporary marriage and the consumption of the flesh of domesticated donkeys.” 30 A legitimate sexual relationship may be dissolved without divorce if a woman who is the subject of an affidavit, a spouse leaving Islam, or a slave, who is sold. Jury charges, waivers, and zihar are all side effects of a lasting marriage, not legitimate sex in general (i.e., they don`t apply to sex with a slave). A typical Shia response to this argument is as follows: First, the Qur`anic verse is a general statement, and there is no reason why its specific applications cannot be clarified by other verses and hadiths. Second, it is not true that the above things go hand in hand with marriage: there is no inheritance in the case of a non-Muslim woman, murderer, or slave. Even the Arabic dictionary gives the practical meaning of mut`a, that is, temporary marriage. All Shia and Sunni scholars agree with this very fact. Al-Qurtubi, one of the great Sunni commentators on the Qur`an, wrote: “There is no dispute between scholars, neither among the first (salaf) nor among late scholars (khalaf), that courage is a marriage for a certain period of time and that it does not involve inheritance. Al-Razi responds to this argument by saying that “Omar may have only mentioned stoning to intimidate his listeners and make them think more seriously about the consequences of a temporary marriage. Certainly, such intimidation is permissible. The Prophet himself said, “If anyone in our midst does not pay for his alms (zakat), I will take them away from him with some of his possessions.

But it is not allowed in Islam to take part of someone`s property as punishment for not paying their handouts. The Prophet spoke these words only to affirm his point of view and frighten his listeners.21 Perhaps such people have not even read the traditions of “women`s courage,” which give their practical meaning used in the time of the Prophet and the first caliphs, and how the Companions contracted on a handful of data as a dowry. Qazi said, `There is unanimous agreement that one who has a lasting marriage, but his intention is to stay with him for a while, really, his marriage is valid, and it is not the Courage`ah marriage, because the Courage`ah marriage is based on a conditional period.”; [19] “There is no difference between silent marriage and prostitution. There is a time limit to marriage, and the mahr given as a gift [from man to woman] is the equivalent of a payment to a prostitute,” she added. Shafi`i School adds that even though the period specified in the contract should be the lifetime of the husband or wife, the contract is still invalid because the marriage contract requires that its effects continue after death. Therefore, a spouse can give his spouse the ritual purification of the dead before the funeral (otherwise the washer of the dead must be of the same sex as the corpse). In Majma` al-bayan, al Tabarsi, the famous Shia commentator on the Qur`an, summarizes the Shia arguments: the word “enjoy” in this verse refers to the marriage of mut`a, that is, a marriage for a certain dowry and a certain period of time. This view was expressed by Ibn `Abbas and many “disciples” of companions such as Isma`il b. `Abd al-Rahman al-Suddi (d. 127/744-45) and Sa`id b. Jubayr al-Asadi (95/713-14). Sayyad Fadhil Milani, spiritual leader at the Al-Khoei Centre in Brent, northwest london, is widely regarded as Britain`s top Shia Islamic scholar and wrote about silent marriage in his book Islamic Family Law.

Islamic jurisprudence, as elaborated by various schools of law, considers that the main purpose of the marriage contract is to make sexual relations between a husband and wife legal (halal) and to legitimize all the resulting descendants. The marriage contract also sets out other rights and obligations for each spouse. In addition to the basic requirement of “good mutual treatment”, which is not defined by law, these rights and obligations are distinguished by sex […].