Among them...

Among them, it establishes that the Prophet himself was practising both types of mut’ah – including that with women - along with his Sahabah. Moreover, Jabir explicitly stated that it was ‘Umar who first banned both of them. The same fact is reiterated in this hadith of Imam Ahmad (d.

241 H): حدثنا عبد الله حدثني أبي ثنا إسحاق ثنا عبد الملك عن عطاء عن جابر بن عبد الله قال كنا نتمتع على عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم وأبي بكر وعمر رضي الله عنهم حتى نهانا عمر رضي الله عنه أخيرا يعني النساء ‘Abd Allah (b. Ahmad) – my father (Ahmad b. Hanbal) – Ishaq – ‘Abd al-Malik – ‘Aṭa – Jabir b.

‘Abd Allah: We used to do mut’ah during the time of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, until ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, later forbade it , that is ( mut’ah with) women.[^4] Shaykh al-Arnauṭ says: إسناده صحيح على شرط مسلم Its chain is sahih upon the standard of (Imam) Muslim. ^5 So, ‘Umar himself initially allowed it. Abu Bakr, on the other hand, had no problem with it throughout his rule.

Imam Muslim equally reports: حدثني محمد بن رافع حدثنا عبدالرزاق أخبرنا ابن جريج أخبرني أبو الزبير قال سمعت جابر بن عبدالله يقول كنا نستمتع بالقبضة من التمر والدقيق الأيام على عهد رسول الله صلى الله عليه و سلم وأبي بكر حتى نهى عنه عمر في شأن عمرو بن حريث Muhammad b. Rafi’ – ‘Abd al-Razzaq – Ibn Jurayj – Abu al-Zubayr: I heard Jabir b.

‘Abd Allah saying, “ We used to contract mut’ah by giving a handful of dates and flour (as the dowry) during the time of the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr UNTIL ‘Umar forbade it in the case of ‘Amr b. Hurayth.[^6] This one repeats emphatically that the practice of mut’ah continued unimpeded and uninterrupted from the time of the Prophet till ‘Umar forbade it.

It is indeed of great interest that the Sahabah generally were engaging in mut’ah with women – and this naturally included sexual intercourse with them – and the Prophet never rebuked or punished a single one of them! This occurred till his death, and also during the rule of Abu Bakr.

If mut’ah were haram , then the intercourse within it would have been zina (fornication or adultery), and it would have been obligatory upon the Messenger to investigate the cases and punish the mut’ah practitioners. After all, they were not doing it in secret. This was how Jabir knew that it was a general practice, in the first place. So, was the Prophet failing in his duties? Or, was he condoning disobedience and illegal sex?