By Cyril Anderson

 Part One of Three

Introduction

One of the practices which causes the most disagreement between Sunni and Shia Muslims is that of muta’a, or fixed-term unions.  This subject often produces very heated, passionate discussions and debates.  The purpose of this article is to present some of the basic facts regarding this practice to better inform the reader, regardless of his particular background.  While it is not possible to do a full examination in this brief space, the idea is to provide a relatively brief introduction to the topic that will allow the reader to have a relatively comprehensive understanding of the main issues involed.

Why muta’a?

At this time, there are a number of social problems in modern society that prevent or delay people from marrying on a permanent basis to fulfill their needs, be they social, psychological, or physical.  In past, people tended to marry early in their early or mid teens, shortly after they came into puberty, and once the boy and girl reached sexual maturity, as well as the psychological maturity to start a family.  In simpler times, this psychological and sexual maturity were typically reached at almost the same time.

 These days, people reach this sexual maturity at about the same age as in the past, yet because of the complications of life and the difficulty of getting settled into a job and starting a household, even on a simple, humble basis, most put off marriage until at a minimum their late teens, and this only in exceptional cases.  For most, marriage is only something that takes place in the early or mid twenties at the earliest.

 The problem is that the social and biological/psychological calendars are out of joint.  Young people can be expected to be reasonably strong and ignore their natural urges for a certain period of time, but after that, it becomes quite trying on most, and begins to cause problems.  Such problems can express themselves directly, through illicit sexual activity such as masturbation or pre-marital sex, or indirectly, through secondary effects of the stress caused by extended and un-naturally prolonged periods of abstinence.

 The ideal would be for young people who have reached a sufficient level of psychological maturity, so that they are relatively responsible, to get married as soon as possible on a permanent basis.  This could be anywhere from their late teens to early twenties, depending on the overall maturity of the people involved.  At that age, they are old and mature enough to understand the basics of human reproduction enough to know how to put off having children until such time they are ready for the increased burden and responsibility

 Muslim youth are educated heavily about the importance of marriage and the role of marriage as the only legitimate place for romantic relations between men and women.  So young people from Muslim communities are relatively comfortable with the idea of getting married in their late teens or early twenties. However, the Muslim community is still not organized to bring this about, and also, outside the Muslim communities, young people are often very taken aback by the idea of settling down with a life partner at that age.  At the same time, however, these young people feel the pressure of overwhelming biological urges to have sex and the social need to have meaningful and close relationships with members of the opposite sex.

 Outside the Muslim communities, and even, to some extent within them, youth turn to satisfy these urges either through masturbation or through unregulated premarital sexual activity and dating.  The problem, from an Islamic perspective (and from the traditional perspective of virtually every religion) is that these are both prohibited by Islamic principles.

 Pre-marital sex is seen, within Canadian society these days as normal, even among teens.  This is often very troublesome however, with a lot of problems coming from it. The main concern, aside from the undermining of the institution of marriage, is that such activity is virtually unregulated, with few sound guidelines and rules. 

 There is for one the questionable legitimacy of any children born within premarital sex, primarily when the women involved have been active with a number of different partners in a short period of time.  There are also problems with miscommunications and misunderstandings over the nature of relationship, that is, the seriousness, the commitment, and the scope of relationship.  Because of such miscommunications, there is often a lot of heartbreak and conflict when one of the parties unexpectedly breaks the union, while the other person was operating under the assumption that the relationship was going to last.  Given that in these sorts of unregulated relationships, the assumptions underlying the relationship in terms of expected timeframe of the relationship, exclusivity of the relationship, and expectations of each other, are usually unspoken and implicitly rather than explicitly understood, there is considerable room for disagreement.

 Muta’a seeks to solve some of these problems, allowing a form of temporary marriage union that involves an agreement between a woman and man to commit to each other on a contractual basis, much as in a regular Islamic marriage, yet with a fixed time frame, after which the union automatically dissolves.   The relationship may be sexual, or a non-sexual relationship of simple companionship.  It is a union that is similar in its benefits and regulations to so-called permanent marriage, but with less stringent obligations of one person toward the other and a smaller level of commitment in terms of time required of one person toward the other.  It is a more flexible form of union that allows for many of the benefits of companionship of permanent marriage, meant to be a workable solution for those who feel the natural human pressures and needs to be married, but who lack at that time the stability or ease of circumstances to embark on a lifetime commitment at that point.  

Some object that in Islam one shouldn't marry with the intention of divorce.  However, this is not quite what is meant by the limited time period in the contract.  Muta'a is not a "marriage with the intention of divorce." It is a union with an agreed commitment at the onset for only a fixed amount of time. The difference is subtle, but real. That a muta'a is agreed for six months, for example, does not mean that he two intend to break up and go their separate ways at the end of six months. It is not a negative statement. What it means is that the most they are willing to positively agree to at the outset is six months, that six months is as far as they can forsee down the road in terms of how much they can commit. But along the way, or at the end of this time period, they are free to renew the commitment or marry in nikah as circumstances change. A muta'a agreement of six months is an intention: "We intend to stay together for at least six months, but beyond six months we are not yet certain about it. We will reassess at that point or before."  And indeed, many who enter upon muta'a unions either renew the union or marry permanently either at the end of the union or sometime before.

 Muta’a operates according to a number of important regulations and guidelines.  For one, a virgin girl needs her father’s permission to engage in this union.  A woman who is not a virgin, or a virgin who is financially independent of her father doesn’t need permission.  Secondly, the man isn’t obliged to provide maintenance and does not need to provide his bed, as would be required in permanent marriage.  Also, she does not inherit from him after the contract is over.  Divorce is also easier; the man simply needs to free the woman from the rest of the time, or conversely, the woman can simply give back her dower.  If they do nothing, the union will expire naturally at the end of the term, though they may renew the union at that time of they wish. 

                          Part One             Part Two             Part Three