Zawaj al-Mut'ah (Temporary Marriage)
Temporary marriage; prohibited in Sunni Islam, finally at the Conquest.
Hijri prohibited 8 AH CE 630 CE
A fixed-term “marriage of enjoyment” contracted for a set period — prohibited in Sunni Islam, with the final prohibition attached to the Conquest of Makkah (8 AH).
Definition & how it appears in the Seerah
Mut’ah was a pre-Islamic practice, permitted for a time in the earliest Muslim community and then banned. Yasir Qadhi notes the prohibition was reinforced among the fiqh rulings taught during the Prophet’s ﷺ 19 days in Makkah after the Conquest.
The scholarly positions
- When was it prohibited? Al-Nawawi and others hold it was permitted twice and banned twice (permitted, banned at Khaybar, permitted again, banned finally at the Conquest); Ibn al-Qayyim and others hold it was banned only once, at the Conquest.
- Sunni consensus (near-ijma’): mut’ah is haram. Non-Sunni groups (notably Twelver Shia) consider it permitted — a well-known point of difference.
Cross-references
The Conquest of Makkah · The Battle of Khaybar · Muhammad ﷺ
Sources
- S011 — Yasir Qadhi Seerah EP 081. al-Nawawi, Ibn al-Qayyim; the reports of prohibition at Khaybar and the Conquest.