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Temporary Marriages in Islam

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by Mahmoodiyah

Question:

Assalamualaikum Wa rahmatullahi Wa barakatuhu,

I read about temporary marriage on :

http://www.islam.org.au/articles/12/TMPMRIG.HTM

and it mentions that it is Haraam.
What is the real difference between a temporary marriage and a non-temporary marriage ?
All I understood from the above link is that the bride groom cannot marry the bride for fixed periods.

I understood that, if a marriage is “fixed for a period” such as 1 year or 2 etc. then the marriage is invalid.
I also read that, marriages can be based on “conditions” such as :

* if the husband or wife commits adultery then the marriage will break
* if the wife leaves the house with-out the husband’ permission then the marriage will break
* etc.

I heard that “conditions” can be drawn for the marriage which states that as-long as these “conditions are met” then the marriage is alive and if any of these conditions are broken then the marriage can be broken.
Is this true ?

Our Young Boys Positions Today :

As you know brother, in the west, it is real hard for young boys not to mix with girls.
We have them in schools, colleges, universities, work-places, etc. and if you do not co-operate with them then you will be expelled.
And we cannot afford to be expelled otherwise who will feed our parents ?
Also, if we leave our work-places and apply for state benefit then they will refuse to give-it as the west does not consider “a boy leaving his work simply because he does not want to mix with his female colleagues” a valid reason to quit a job.
Also, we have girl neighbours who are always inviting us to fornicate.
We try to avoid them but it is always impossible as we cannot hide inside our houses all the time.
Sooner or later, some brothers fall in-to their traps and cannot get-out.
There are lots of young Muslim boys who want to get-out but are too weak to do it.

What if I am in the following conditions :

* go to university and stay in hostel (where there are girls who always invite me for sex even though I always turn them down) because I cannot afford to rent a place on my own.
* work part-time (where there exist female colleagues who always invite me for sex even though I always turn them down) and cannot find full-time employment unless I get my degree qualification.

As you can see from the above state, I cannot afford to stay away from females.

I know you will advise me to get married to save myself from the sin of fornication.
But, what if I am not the oldest brother in the family and I have older brothers who have to get married first, who are unemployed and are looking for work to save money to get married themselves ?

As you can see, my older brothers need to get married first otherwise if I get married first then there will be gossip in my society that I am fornicating and so my parents got me married first.
This will ruin our family reputation which we cannot afford.
Also, I cannot afford to get married as I only work part-time and this is not enough to get married as bride’ families now-a days do not accept us boys to marry their daughters unless we spend a lot of money and give a big celebration.
Plus, with-out my qualifications, I cannot find a decent salary job and so I cannot afford to quit my studies.
What if my other Muslim friends are dating and mating with their university hostel girls and class mates and work-colleagues and are always influencing me to do the same and I am trying hard to ignore them but cannot because naturally I am weak inside ?

Now, you can see that, I am in a very bad situation and I cannot get out of it.
Now, what can be done brother ?
We students cannot afford to get married.
Women are tempting us every-where as they are always curious to see how it feels to sleep with this boy and that boy.
We are getting weak and our head is always hot and disturbing our studies and work.
Can we marry Christian girls from university or work who are willing ?

What if I have feelings for a Christian girl whom I always have to mix in class and work and she has the same feelings for me ?
Can I marry secretly this Christian girl from university/work who I cannot avoid at-all and who always tempts me ?
This will save me from fornication.
This way, she gets her curiosity satisfied about me and she is saved from fornication and I get my curiosity satisfied about her and I save myself from fornication.
It will then clear our heads and we can study and work with-out always thinking of each other.

Can I not marry her with-out fixing a period of marriage, until my parents marry me to a muslim girl ?
e.g.. instead of fixing a date such as marrying her for 1 year or 2 year.
Can I not marry her with this intention/Niyyah and with these conditions that :

1. I am marrying her to save myself from committing fornication like the others are up-to.

2. I will be free to divorce her whenever I like.
e.g..
a) any unfixed day before I marry a Muslim girl
b) any unfixed day after I marry a Muslim girl

This way, according to my opinion, there is no time fixed on the marriage and so cannot be associated with the Haraam “fixed marriage” or “temporary marriage”.

What if the marriage has the following conditions :

that I would divorce her :

a). on the day I marry the Muslim girl.
b). she will be free to ask me to divorce her whenever she likes and we can arrange a divorce date only after her request.

Would the above 2 conditions be valid ?
According to the above 2 conditions, there is no “fixed date” when I would divorce her and so I think 
this cannot be counted as “marriage for a fixed period”.
I understand that this marriage is based on “conditions” that :

1. we will be married to each other unless one of us wants to break the marriage or
2. I find another bride or
3. she wants a divorce because she wants to find another husband

but these “conditions” do not “fix a time-period of the marriage”.
We are not “fixing” at what date I will divorce her to marry another or what date I will divorce her for her to marry another.

What conditions must be met for the marriage to be Islamicaly valid ?
Do any of the above conditions fall in-to the Islamic marriage conditions ?

What if I have friends and relatives who are in the same bad position as me but they could not resist the temptation and have fallen in-to the trap of Shaitaan ?
Can they now like-wise marry their partners with whom they are fornicating ?
This way, according to my opinion, at-least they save themselves from fornication.

Please reply soon.

PS – Please forward this message to all the Muftis and Islamic advisors you know and kindly ask them to kindly reply ASAP because the sooner this problem is solved the better.
I want to save those who are already involved in this trap of Shaitaan and I want to help those who are likely to fall in soon.
So, please give all the help you can according to Sunni Fatwaa.

Assalamualaikum Wa rahmatullahi Wa barakatuhu


Answer:

 

According to Mufti Taqi Uthmani (D.B.) if there is a strong possibility of falling prey to Zinaa and fornication then it will be permissible to marry a woman on temporary basis with the condition that no mention of time is made in the actual enacting of the Nikaah.  Temporary Nikaah is not at all encouraged by the Shari’ah therefore it will only be resorted to in dire need. 

It is permissible to marry a Christian female so long as she is a practicing Christian and not an atheist and Christian by name.  One should note that marrying the females of the Ahle Kitaab is permissible in Islam but is not encouraged by the Fuqahaa (jurists) because it can be a threat to the husband’s Imaan as well as the Imaan of the offspring, whether this Nikaah is on a temporary basis or permanent basis, this ruling remains the same.  (Raddul Muhtaar, Vol. 2, Page 390, Ahsanul Fataawaa, Vol. 5, Page 89-90, Qadhaayaa Fiqhiyya Mu’aasarah, Page 324 and 342)

And Allah Ta’ala knows best

Ilyaas bin Hashim Limbada

Attested to as correct by:

Mufti Muhammad Ashraf

Darul Iftaa

Jameah Mahmoodiyah

Springs

29 March 2004

07 Safar 1425

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