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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Nikah Al-Mut’ah, Zina or Sunnah? Al-Zawaj bi Niyyah Al-Talaq, The Sunni Attempt to Reinvent Mut’ah ==================================================================== After declaring mut’ah to be haram , Sunni Muslims were faced with the very situations which it was meant to address.

But, unable to backtrack on it, the ‘ulama of the Ahl al-Sunnah instead invented a new form of marriage – called al-zawaj bi niyyah al-ṭalaq (marriage with the intention of divorce) – to cater for their needs. Its nature is exactly as its name suggests: the “marriage” is contracted with a deliberate intention to dissolve it sometimes in the future. To say this in clearer words, it is a temporary form of nikah ! Here, al-Hafiẓ (d.

852 H) opens the floor about this Sunni-invented marriage: قال عياض وأجمعوا على أن شرط البطلان التصريح بالشرط فلو نوى عند العقد أن يفارق بعد مدة صح نكاحه الا الأوزاعي فأبطله ‘Iyaḍ said: “ They unanimously agreed that the condition of invalidity is to openly disclose the condition (of time limit). So, if he intends, during the ‘aqd (i.e. the formalization of the marriage) to separate after a period, his marriage is correct .

Only al-Awza’i disagreed, and he declared it invalid.”[^1] So, when a Sunni man wishes to temporarily marry a woman, he must never disclose his real intention to her. If he does that, it becomes illegal for him to proceed with the marriage. However, as long as he does not tell her, he is allowed to marry her with his hidden intention to divorce her after a period of time. He knows of his secret plan in his heart, but must never let the woman discover it until when it happens. Imam al-Nawawi (d.

676 H) also mentions: قال القاضي وأجمعوا على أن من نكح نكاحا مطلقا ونيته أن لا يمكث معها الا مدة نواها فنكاحه صحيح حلال وليس نكاح متعة وإنما نكاح المتعة ما وقع بالشرط المذكور ولكن قال مالك ليس هذا من أخلاق الناس وشذ الأوزاعي فقال هو نكاح متعة ولا خير فيه والله أعلم Al-Qadi said, “ They unanimously agreed that whoever contracts an (outwardly) permanent marriage while his (real) intention is to stay with her for only a period of time which he intends, then his marriage is correct and halal **, and is not a** mut’ah marriage .

The mut’ah marriage is only that which occurs with the (previously) mentioned condition.