Mut`ah WHAT IS MEANT BY " MUT`AH NIKAH "? WHAT IS ITS HISTORY AND PLACE IN MODERN AGE? Reply " Mut`ah " refers to temporary marriage. There is evidence in the books of the history and the cultural traditions of the Arabs that in certain situations, a temporary marital relationship between a man and a woman was considered to be acceptable among pre-Islamic Arabs. There are certain narratives ( hadith ) that imply that for sometime, even the Prophet (pbuh) did not prohibit such a relationship. On the other hand, certain other narratives are held as evidence to the fact that the Prophet (pbuh) did not prohibit such a relationship at all, it was prohibited, later on - after the death of the Prophet - by the second caliph, `Umar ibn al-Khattab (ra). The Qur'an does not support this view. According to the very initial Surahs (chapters) of the Qur'an, like Surah Al-Mominun and Surah Al-Ma`arij the Qur'an specifically disallows all sexual relationships, besides that which are based on Nikah or that which were between a master and his slave girl 1 . The Qur'an says: And those who guard their chastity, except with their wives and their slave girls - for they are not to be blamed. But those who trespass beyond this are the ones who are transgressors. (70: 29 - 31) It must be remembered here that a Mut`ah relationship makes a woman neither a wife nor a slave girl of a person, whereas the Qur'an specifically restricts sexual relationships of a person with these two. It should be noticed that the particular word used by the Qur'an in the referred verse translated as "wives" is " azwaj " plural of " zaujah ". In the classical Arabic language, a woman with whom a person had entered into a contract of Mut`ah was called the " Mamtu`ah " of the person, she was not referred to as the " zaujah " (wife) of the person. The verse, therefore is a clear evidence to the fact that no other relationship besides the one based on Nikah was allowed by Islam. I hope this clarifies the issue. The Learner