Urwa (rahimahullah) narrates: ‘A’isha (r.a.) told me: There were four kinds of marriages in the Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: One of them is the marriage that is today (legitimised by our religion and practised by everyone): A person asks a person for his daughter or a girl for whom he is the guardian, pays the mahr, and then marries her. Another type of marriage was as follows: When her menstruation was over, he would say to her, “Go to so-and-so and ask him for a pregnancy,” and he would send her to him. Until it became clear that she was pregnant by that foreign man, her husband would stay away from her and not have contact with her. When it became clear that she was pregnant by that man, he could, if she wished, enter into marital relations with him. This type of marriage was used in order to produce a son of noble birth. This type of marriage was called nikah al-istibza. Another type of marriage was as follows: A group of less than ten people would gather and enter a woman and all of them would touch her. If the woman became pregnant and gave birth, a few days after the birth, she would send word to them and call them all. None of them could refrain from responding to the invitation and came to her. The woman would say to them: “You must have remembered your incident. O so-and-so, the child is yours,” and she would attribute the child to whomever she wished. The man had no right to object to this. The fourth type of marriage was as follows: A large number of people would gather and come to a woman. The woman could not object to any of them. These women were prostitutes. They would raise flags over their doors. Anyone who wanted to have contact with these women could enter them. If one of them became pregnant, when she gave birth to her child, those men would gather round her and call the judges. If the kāifs could tell which of them the child belonged to, they would include him in her lineage. The child was attributed to him and called his child. No one could deny it.[418]

To briefly explain these four marriages;

  1. The marriage of a woman to a man by asking the girl’s family,
  2. Being together with the aim of having a son of nobility, since the superiority is given to the descendants
  3. A woman may appoint one of the men as the father of her child born as a result of her having sex with more than one man,
  4. The designation of a “father” by a recognised expert authority for a child born to a prostitute woman who has been with many men.

Islam has accepted the first type of marriage with some conditions. In Jahiliyyah, this was called the “Hıtbe method”. In a hithba marriage, the bride price determined for the girl was given to the girl’s father. No woman could benefit from it. The father would not ask his daughter’s opinion about the person she would marry. It was considered customary to marry two sisters to the same person and to force them into prostitution for money. A man could marry more than one woman and a woman could marry more than one man. In addition, there were other types of marriages that varied according to the situation of the person and the region. Their names and meanings are as follows.

Bedel, when two men exchange their women by agreement;

Shigar, when two men exchanged their daughters and cancelled the Mahr;

Haden, when a free woman lives a mistress life with another man;

Marriage of a man’s son to his stepmother after his death without mehr (mahr) Makt;

The marriage of a man and a woman for a certain period of time was called Mut’a Nikah.[419]

ISLAM: Islam, which rejects all these moral corruptions, has declared in the following verses that it has destroyed injustice and oppression and replaced them with justice.

Marry those who abstain from fornication and do not take secret friends, with the permission of their guardians and their mahr given to them: And if any of you cannot afford to marry free believing women, then let him take from your believing concubines whom your right hands possess, and Allah is best acquainted with your faith. So marry them by the permission of their guardians, who are chaste and do not commit fornication, and have not taken secret friends. And give them their wages (mahr) in a lawful manner. And if they commit fornication after they are married, inflict on them half of the punishment on free women. This is for those of you who are afraid of sinning. It is better for you if you are patient. Allah is the Forgiving, the Merciful.[420]

Be with those who are worthy of each other: A man who commits adultery shall not marry anyone except a woman who commits adultery or is a polytheist, and a woman who commits adultery shall not marry anyone except a man who commits adultery or is a polytheist. This is forbidden to the believers.[421]

A woman should be preferred to a believer: Do not marry polytheist women until they become believers. A believing concubine is better than an idolatrous free woman whom you like very much. Do not marry polytheist men unless they believe. A believing slave is better than a pagan free man whom you like very much. [422]

If you fear that you will not be able to do justice in the case of the orphan girls, then marry them in twos, threes and fours from other women who are lawful for you. And if you fear that you will not be able to fulfil justice, then (be content) with one (wife) or (a concubine) whom your right hands possess. This is nearer to you that you may not deviate. [423]

The woman should be included in the inheritance: Half of the inheritance of your husbands who die without leaving children, after their wills have been fulfilled and their debts have been paid, is for you (the women). If your deceased spouses have children, you will inherit a quarter of their inheritance.[424]

Do not perform Makt Nikah: Regardless of past practice, do not marry the women whom your fathers married. This is an indecency, a disgusting behaviour and a very ugly custom.[425]

Nikah should be made with the intention that its term should be eternal: Sebra Ibn Ma’bed al-Juhani narrated: “The Messenger of Allah said: O people! I permitted you to make Mut’a with women, but Allah (swt) has forbidden it until the Day of Resurrection. So whoever has a woman in such a marriage, let her go. Do not take back anything of what you have given them as wages. [426]

Abdullah b. ‘Umar (r.a.) : The Messenger of Allah forbade marriage in the “shigar” method.[427]

Observe the limits: So whoever wishes to go beyond this, these are the transgressors.[428]

TODAY: Islam has imposed the condition of marriage in order to control extra-marital behaviour, to determine the core cadre in order to ensure proportion in life and to ensure the fair functioning of the mechanism of creation. This contract is made in order to determine the rights and duties of individuals. However, the Jahiliyyah mentality has always endeavoured to provide control and measure on its own. Since this lifestyle has taken a stance against Sunnahullah[429], it also brings distorted relationships in its wake. The oppression of women, denying them their rights, subjecting them to oppression, prostitution and oppression due to their helplessness are also due to setting rules that are contrary to the requirements of creation. Today, as a result of these rules accepted by the society, a rapid return to the customs of ignorance is observed.

According to the hadith reported by Hz. Aisha (r.a.), although the condition of marrying the girl to the man by asking her family and giving her mahr is the only type of marriage that Islam approves, today in many places the woman is not given her mahr. The sexual intercourse for the purpose of superiority and nobility, which is mentioned in the hadith, has become one of the events that are carried out for the purpose of gaining fame. Thirdly, after being with more than one man, making a contract after the woman decides on one of these men is one of the legal situations encountered after rape today. Fourthly, the appointment of a father by a specialised authority to the child born as a result of a prostitute’s being with many men has been replaced by DNA test results.

When we look at the other types of nikah, we find their equivalents in our day. The mutual exchange of women between two men has become one of the situations we frequently encounter, especially on the internet. The mutual exchange of two men’s daughters and the abolition of mehiri has been accepted in areas that serve the purpose of reconciliation such as resentment, blood feuds, etc…. The number of women living a mistress life with their husbands has become undetectable. After the death of the man, the marriage of his son to his stepmother without a ransom is also one of the situations that we frequently hear about. The marriage of a man and a woman for a certain period of time is approved even by some scholars who have a say in the lands where Muslim societies live. It is a very sad situation that the issue known as Mut’a marriage is seen as appropriate based on misinformation and that it is attributed to the Islamic belief.

Mut’a is a temporary form of marriage that allows a man and a woman to live together until a predetermined time. It did not aim to establish a home or have children. Such temporary marriages were contracted especially by men who were temporarily in a foreign country. Mut’a marriage did not require the permission of the elders of the family. After the marriage, the woman would stay within her own family and give her husband a spear and a tent. In this way, as long as the man stayed within the woman’s tribe, he was considered their caliph, and as long as the marriage bond continued, he would act with this tribe. When the woman wanted to end the mut’a marriage, she would turn the door of the tent in the opposite direction, and when the husband saw this, he would return to his own tribe. The children born out of this kind of marriage belonged to the woman and were called “the child of so-and-so woman”. Those who married in this way for a temporary period of time would separate at the end of the marriage without the need for divorce. This marriage, which was deprived of goals such as ensuring the continuation of the generation and living together, was made only to satisfy the feeling of lust. Sometimes, a certain period of time was not discussed during the mut’a marriage, and a condition was stipulated that “the marriage would be valid as long as the husband wanted to live with his wife, and the contract would be terminated when the husband gave up his wife”. In Mut’a marriage, the woman could leave at the end of the period, but the husband could not keep her with him. There was no right of inheritance.[430] Since the ruling of this marriage is mentioned in the chapter “In Islam”, we find it appropriate to be content with this explanation.

Marriage or nikah literally means sexual intercourse and figuratively means a contract. In the religious sense, it is the union of a man and a woman for the benefit of each other.

[418] Ibrahim Canan, Qutub-i Sitte Translation and Commentary, Akçağ Publications: 15/539-540

[419] M. Ali Kapar, All aspects of Islam in Asr-ı Saadet, Beyan Publications Volume 2, pg.113

[420] Surat al-Nisa, Verse 25

[421] Surat al-Nur, Verse 3

[422] Surat al-Baqarah, Verse 221

[423] Surat al-Nisa, Verse 3

[424] Surah al-Nisa, Verse 12

[425] Surat al-Nisa, Verse 22

[Muslim, Nikah, 21

[Bukhari, Nikah, 67/28; Muslim, Nikah, 16/6, no: 57

[428] Surat al-Buminun, Verse 7

[Divine laws

[430] Ali Osman Ateş, Islam in Asr-ı saadet te Islam in all its aspects, Beyan publications: Volume 2, pg.60