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Islam
is a realistic and practical religion. Divinely inspired, it
fits human nature like a glove. It does not exalt, as ideals,
ways of life which are contrary to nature. It therefore
rejected the doctrine (which the Christian Church had
promulgated during its first six centuries) that celibacy was
a desirable or meritorious way of life, estimable as a work of
supererogation (i.e. adding to the store of merit which could
be shared amongst the saints and even turned to the salvation
of sinners for whom they prayed) while marriage, though not an
unlawful state, falls in a moral category called "makruh"
which lies halfway' between the "mubah" or
"indifferent" and the "haram" or totally
forbidden.
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Popes
and Catholics tend to follow this doctrine to this day, as
also do the higher ranks of the Orthodox hierarchy. It was one
of the Catholic doctrines against which Luther and his
Protestants revolted, and it is forming a great source of
controversy within the Church of Rome at this very date at
which we write. After long discussions at a Vatican Congress,
it was decided that "marriage is still less meritorious
than celibacy and no alteration in the Church's doctrine can
be allowed on this point."
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The
sexual instinct has the deepest roots in human nature. Unless
it is properly catered for and regulated, it avenges itself.
It responds to suppression by psychological explosions that
can be volcanic in their effect if they take place
simultaneously in large numbers of people. It might well be
held that the disastrous breakdown of the family institution
in the West is precisely such an explosive reaction against
Christian attempts to suppress the sex instinct instead of
sanctifying and subliminating it in its natural channels.
Christians must ask themselves whether they have not committed
the very sin of which their Lord and Master accused the
Pharisees of His day that of "binding on men's backs
burdens too heavy to be borne." Like caged beasts
escaping from captivity; the people of the West dash forth
from the bondage in which Christianity had tried to hold them,
and in an equal and opposite reaction go much too far in the
other direction.
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Islam
makes a proper marriage, when a man and woman reach adult
hood, a merit and a virtue. Thus it turns the God-implanted
instinct to its correct operation in the strengthening of
society. It bans bestial abuse of the instinct, but exalts its
truly human use in accordance with the way in which God has
made mankind. A man was made to love a wife and children. This
is acknowledged in every race in every clime.
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It
is written in Sura 3: Al-i-Imran -"Imran's Family"
(verse 14, in part):
"Fair in the eyes of men is the love
of objects which are the desire of their instinct, women and
sons. . . .."
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Islam
during the 14 centuries of its existence has done its utmost
to end the scandal of prostitution which takes such a heavy
toll in family and social life, and degrades both the women
who are compelled to practise it and the men whose
incontinence exploits them. The law of "the temporary
marriage" (ezdevaj-i-muwaqat or muta'a) by the formula
(or seeghe) laid down in it, was instituted to establish
conditions under which a man who was compelled by the
necessities of his business or for other causes to be away
from home for long periods, or who desired to give temporary
assistance to a woman whose life had fallen into difficulties,
could undertake a union for a specified period under strictly
controlled conditions.
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Remember
that this beneficent piece of legislation was produced through
the Prophet of Islam in the environment of those "days of
ignorance" when men walked in darkness; and when illicit
relationships were as common as other types of immorality in
those generations of unregenerate and unenlightened persons.
Most places had official "red-light districts" and
houses of ill-fame as a matter of course. To raise the
thinking and living of men, and to put an end to illicit sex,
the Prophet of Islam brought in this law of "temporary
marriage", to canalise the sex instinct in sound
channels.
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The
chapters on "Temporary Marriage" in the book
"Vassa'el"
report that the Prophet posted an edict in the streets and
bazaars which read:
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"O people! God's Apostle has made
temporary marriage permissible for you, for the quenching of
the fires of the sex instinct,
and for turning it to sound
uses, that ye may not be the slaves of sexual licence,
fornication or illicit relationships."
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By this law, the
man and woman enter upon a marriage, not of permanence, but of
a limited time, and live as man and wife until the expiry of
the stated period. The only difference in this type of
marriage is that it does not carry with it the same rights of
inheritance, nor does the man have to continue to provide the
woman's food, clothing and shelter after the termination of
their relationship. But to preserve proper order all the other
rules that govern permanent marriage must also be observed in
the temporary marriage.
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A
woman who enters such a contract is counted as the man's real
wife and can claim all the rights which are legally specified
as such. As it is written in Sura IV. Nisa'a-"The
Women" (verse 24):
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"To women whom you choose in
temporary and conditional
(muwaqat and muta'a) marriage, give
their dowry, as a duty."
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The
only difference between permanent marriage and temporary
marriage, so far as its social status is concerned, is its
duration. If the contract specifies a definite and limited
period, that is a temporary marriage. But the wife is as much
a wife as if the contract had specified "a permanent and
unlimited period." The children of the temporary marriage
are recognised on precisely the same footing as those of a
permanent marriage, and enjoy all the legal and canonical and
customary rights of children whose paternity is recognised.
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One
reason for prostitution is that some men find it not within
their reach to enter upon a permanent marriage, either because
their personality or their finances prevent them undertaking
the heavy lifelong responsibility or because their stay in
any one place can only be short. Merchants, soldiers, students
and even tourists find themselves in these conditions. It is
the realistic recognition of these facts, and Islam's
consistent "yes!" to life, which have produced the
institution of "temporary marriage".
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What
better solution could there be? Properly practised. this
institution is a powerful antidote and preventative of ills
like prostitution and other social ailments. It blocks the way
to women's selling themselves, raises the general tone of
public morality, and gives needed assistance to women who,
through no fault of their own, either by the death of their
husband or some other disaster, have fallen on bad times. We
say "properly practised", because there are
licentious and ignorant persons who abuse this law, including
opponents of Islam who make misuse of it a basis for false
propaganda and misrepresentation.
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Temporary
marriage preserves the aspect of purity and saves people from
sin. That something right can be misused by wicked persons
exposes those persons' wickedness but does not invalidate the
right institution. The answer is to change them by replacing
their wickedness with piety of spirit and absolute moral
standards. The Prophet of Islam was "sent to bring about
the excellences of virtue", and it is to this end that
all Islam's efforts are directed.
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There
exists no law anywhere in the world which is not twisted by
the wicked to their own ends and against its original purpose.
This is true of laws which are of the greatest benefit to
society. The law of "temporary marriage" is one
such. It should be backed with the full authority of the
state. Those who misuse it should be punished. Those who use
it right should be supported and aided in their righteous
living.
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In
the "Temporary Marriage" chapters of the book
"Vassa'el"
it is reported that the Fifth Imam said, quoting the Imam Ali:
"If the 2nd Caliph had not prohibited temporary
marriages, no Muslim, save perchance a few utterly degraded
lewd fellows of the baser sort, would have ever committed
fornication."
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Close attention to the words of Omar (the
2nd Caliph) as reported by the learned Islamic leaders and
Ulema, and reflected in both the Sunni and the Shia Fiqh,
leaves no doubt that in the time of the Prophet himself
"temporary marriage" was both permitted and frequent
: but Omar, for reasons which are not clear, towards the close
of his Caliphate prohibited it in the notorious phrase:
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"There were two dispensations which were both legal and
frequently practised during the time of the Prophet of God (on
Whom be blessing), both of which I cancel, annul, prohibit and
will punish: and they are
(1) the dispensation permitting
enjoyments prohibited to wearers of Ehram (Hajji's white
garments) during the interval between 'umra' ('little
pilgrimage') and the full Hajj:
(2) the dispensation allowing
'temporary marriage' in particular circumstances."
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Sunni
Feqh gives more information. But it is clear enough that in
this proclamation Omar was acting merely on a personal
viewpoint, which was far from carrying with it the assent of
other companions of the Prophet, who both held that temporary
marriage is a true Islamic institution, and also practised it
themselves in many instances.
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Division
is the hallmark of our age. Our magazines, newspapers, films
and television are filled with meretricious pictures: our
radio with salacious stuff: our hoardings with posters of
erotic enticement, while our women dress seductively and go
around half-naked. The whole ambience entices youth off the
path of virtue. Those who wish to be chaste are in grave
danger all the time. People of poor background, and little
knowledge of Islamic law, criticise the law of "temporary
marriage" in foolish and illogical ignorance and
prejudice; and this lays a further obstacle before the feet of
our young people.
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What
then should we do? We can hardly expect even the best to
master a total control of themselves and stem this powerful
flood so stimulating to sexual instincts, which, in the
critical age of youth, are so close to the surface and so
impatient of outward control. Even if we imagined that the
ideal is the real, and that every one of our youth is endowed
with what amounts to a supernatural self-control, will this
not of itself annul the purpose of the creation of this
instinct within humankind. prevent the continuance of the
race, prevent the use of that vital sperm, prevent the spirit
and teachings of Islam being truly practised, in accordance
with the law proclaimed in Sura XXII:
Hajj-"Pilgrimage", (verse 78):
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"Strive in God's
cause as ye should; for He has chosen you, and has in His
religion not laid a difficult or insupportable task upon
you"?
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Should
we now return to the low morals of our pre-Islamic past, and
to that dirty habit of prostitution, with all the social ills
and personal misfortunes with which it has filled the Western
world? Shall we leave humanity to fall into that confusion of
passions which is the law Of the jungle and the behaviour of
brute beasts?
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It
is written in Sura II: Baqara - "The Heifer" (verse
61):
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"Remember O Israelis, that ye said: 'O Moses! We
cannot keep on with only one kind of food; so pray thy Lord to
give us vegetables!'
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And he replied:
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"Will ye exchange
the better for the worse? Go down to Egypt and there find what
you want!.
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They were covered with humiliation and misery, for
they had drawn upon themselves the wrath of God -We should
merit Moses, rebuke if we, who have been shown that is good,
preferred to return to fleshpots of our own past and the
West's present. Shall we barter a heritage of glory for a mess
of pottage?
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It
is to prevent precisely this disaster that the law of
"temporary marriage'' was introduced. What better way
could there be to rescue millions of women, who are divorced
or unmarried or widowed, from the pressure to keep alive in
wrongful ways and to prostitute their sex to meet the cost of
living? Some might be able to get a job and so a livelihood.
But can that satisfy a woman's inmost feelings and spiritual
needs? Can it satisfy the emptiness left in her soul by the
loss of a husband's love and nearness? And what of her innate
emotions and her instinct of motherhood? Are not all these
temptations to lead her astray unless proper provision is
made?
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Men
and women have taken up temporary marriages in the West
without legal, social or religious sanctions - and their
society has been cast into chaos. The West's thinkers are
feeling after an institution like Muslim "temporary
marriage" to end this chaos.
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Thus
Bertrand Russell writes:
"Modern social and financial
difficulties put obstacles in the way of youthful marriages,
contrary to our liking. A century or two ago the student
completed his studies between the ages of 17 and 20; and, when
the pressures of instinct and the age of puberty made him
marriageable, he was able to enter that state. Very few
remained unmarried until they were 30 or 40. But today
students only enter on their serious studies after the age of
20 and proceed to their specialisation in industry or science.
Even after they have got their degree and left college, they
have to spend quite a period securing their means of
livelihood; so that they may be 35 before they can afford to
get married and found a family The long gap between adulthood
and marriage causes emotional and instinctive upheavals in the
sexual life and drives the victims to find relief where they
had better not.
Would it not be better for the sake of the
proper order of human society that we should end this touchy
problem by finding some proper outlet for the sexual instinct
and the marital urge to replace or to fill in that lengthy
gap, and so safeguard public health, posterity, morality, the
principles of communication between men and women? Some sort
of temporary marriage for our girls and boys would be a
solution and prepare them for a permanent marriage later when
they can afford it, saving them from the corruptions of
illicit sex and the spiritual pangs of conscience which follow
that type of wrongdoing as well as from the venereal diseases
which only too often result"
Wilhelm van Loom
"Matrimonial Health as seen by Islam" (p.175) wrote:
"Psychology has confirmed that when men pass early
marriageable age without getting wed, tendencies to
homosexuality or other forms of sexual satisfaction beset
them. Statistics show that some 65% of men who have wives are
unfaithful to them. To lessen their burdens the government
ought to introduce legislation making temporary marriage by
consent of both parties legal, with definite regulations and a
proper form for them to sign and register."
References
Wilhelm van Loom
"Matrimonial Health as seen by Islam" (p.175)
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