Determining the Framework for the Legitimacy of Temporary Marriage and a Critical Analysis of Narrations Concerning Its Prohibition and Encouragement

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Quranic Studies and Hadith, Faculty of Theology, Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

2 Assistant Professor of Shahid Rajaei Teacher Training University, Department of Quranic and Hadith Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

A notable ruling within the Shia tradition is the acceptance of temporary marriage, known as "Mut'ah." The Kutub al-Arba‘a, (the four primary Shia hadith collections) contain around 137 narrations (excluding duplicates/ repetitions) that support the validity of Mut'ah, referencing verse 24 of Surah An-Nisa and detailing fifteen legal stipulations related to it. However, there are 11 disputed narrations that reflect two opposing perspectives from the infallible Imams (AS): one that encourages and another that discourages the practice of Mut'ah. Among these, five narrations advocate for it, while another five advise against it, and one narration outright prohibits it. These conflicting accounts have historically led to debates, prompting some scholars to classify temporary marriage as makruh (discouraged) under certain conditions, which has created significant confusion for many individuals. This research seeks to elucidate the position of the infallible Imams (PBUH) on Mut'ah by thoroughly examining these specific narrations from the Kutub al-Arba‘a. The analysis is divided into two segments: Isnad (chain of transmission) analysis, which scrutinizes the reliability of the narrators, the integrity of the transmission chains, and the trustworthiness of the sources; and Matn (content) analysis, which evaluates the textual coherence of the narrations using recognized hadith criticism techniques. The results indicate that, despite the weaknesses found in both isnad and matn among the narrations that support and oppose Mut'ah, a general framework for its permissibility can be established. This framework delineates the conditions under which Mut'ah is permissible and those under which it is not. A structural analysis of these narrations suggests that the Imams (AS) were providing a coherent framework regarding this matter.

Keywords

References

  1. Quran Karim (The Noble Quran).
  2. Abtahāʿī, Moḥammad ʿAlī, Tahdhīb al-Maqāl fī Tanqīḥ Kitāb al-Rijāl (Refinement of the Essay in the Revision of the Book of Narrators), Najaf: Ḥaydariyyah Printing House, 1389 AH (1969 CE).
  3. ʿĀmilī, Zayn al-Dīn bin ʿAlī, Al-Riʿāyah fī ʿIlm al-Dirāyah (Care in the Science of Narration), Qom: Public Library of Ayatollah al-Mar‘ashī, 1408 AH (1987 CE).
  4. Fakhr al-Rāzī, Moḥammad bin ʿUmar, Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb (Keys to the Unseen), Tehran: Asāṭīr Publications, 1379 SH (2000 CE).
  5. Fattāḥīzādah, Fatḥīyah, Mabānī va Ravsh-hā-ye Naqd-e Ḥadīth dar Kutub al-Arbaʿah (Foundations and Methods of Hadith Criticism in the Four Books), Qom: Qom University, 1389 SH (2010 CE).
  6. Ghaffārī Ṣifāt, ʿAlī Akbar; Ṣānāʿī Pūrand, Moḥammad Ḥassan, Dirāsāt fī ʿIlm al-Dirāyah (Studies in the Science of Narration), Tehran: SAMT Publications, 1388 SH (2009 CE).
  7. Gholām ʿAlī, Maḥdī, Sanad-shināsī Ḥadīth (Hadith Chain Studies), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1398 SH (2019 CE).
  8. Ḥalī, Ḥassan bin Yūsuf, Kholāṣah al-Qawāl (Summary of Opinions), Qom: Foundation for Publishing Jurisprudence, 1417 AH (1996 CE).
  9. Ḥarʿāmī, Moḥammad bin Ḥassan, Al-Rijāl (The Biographical Evaluation), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1385 SH (2006 CE).
  10. Ḥosseinī Shīrāzī, ʿAlī Reżā, Iʿtibār-sanjī Ḥadīth Shīʿah: Zīrsaḫt-hā, Farāyand-hā, Payāmadhā (Assessment of Shīʿah Hadith: Foundations, Processes, Consequences), Tehran: Imām Ḥādī Cultural Scientific Institute, 1398 SH (2019 CE).
  11. Ibn Bābūyah, Moḥammad bin ʿAlī, Man Lā Yaḥḍuruhu al-Faqīh (For Those Who Don’t Have any Access to a Jurist), Qom: Islamic Publishing Foundation, 1404 AH (1984 CE).
  12. Ibn Ḡhaḍā’irī, Aḥmad bin Ḥossein, Al-Rijāl (The Biographical Evaluation), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1422 AH (2001 CE).
  13. Īzādī, Maḥdī, Ravsh-shināsī Naqd-e Matn Ḥadīth (Methodology of Hadith Text Criticism), Tehran: Imām Ṣādiq University, 1394 SH (2015 CE).
  14. Karakī, Ḥassan bin Ja‘far, Fawāʾid al-Rijāliyyah (Benefits of The Biographical Evaluation), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1374 SH (1995 CE).
  15. Kashshī, Moḥammad bin ʿUmar, Ikhtiyār Ma‘rifah al-Rijāl (Selection of The Biographical Evaluation), Qom: Islamic Publishing Foundation, 1407 AH (1986 CE).
  16. Khūʾī, Abū al-Qāsim, Muʿjam Rijāl al-Ḥadīth (Lexicon of Hadith Narrators), Qom: Islamic Culture in the World, 1390 SH (2011 CE).
  17. Kulaynī, Moḥammad bin Ya‘qūb, Al-Kāfī (The Sufficient Narration Source for Shia), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1407 AH (1986 CE).
  18. Majlisī, Moḥammad Bāqir, Biḥār al-Anwār al-Jāmi‘ah li-Durār Akhbār al-A’immat al-ʿAṭḥār (Seas of Lights: A Compilation of the Narrations of the Pure Imams), Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, 1403 AH (1983 CE).
  19. Majlisī, Moḥammad Taqī, Rawdat al-Muttaqīn (The Meadows of the Pious), Beirut: Dār al-Muṣṭafā li-Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, 1430 AH (2009 CE).
  20. Mas‘ūdī, ʿAbd al-Ḥādī, Āsīb-shināsī Ḥadīth (Hadith Pathology), Tehran: SAMT Publications, 1392 SH (2013 CE).
  21. Moḥammadī Rīshahrī, Moḥammad, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah (The Scale of Wisdom), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1393 SH (2014 CE).
  22. Mufīd, Moḥammad bin Moḥammad, Khulāṣat al-Ijāz fī al-Mut‘ah (Summary of Conciseness in Temporary Marriage), Tehran: Sheikh Mufīd Millennium Congress Publications, 1372 SH (1993 CE).
  23. Mūsawī, Zahrah Sādāt; Fattāḥīzādah, Fatḥīyah; and ʿItrat-Dūst, Moḥammad, "Taḥlīl-i Muḥtawā-yi Riwayāt Mut‘ah dar Mawārīd-i Ḥadīthī Shīʿah" (Content Analysis of Temporary Marriage Narrations in Shīʿah Hadith Sources), Mutāla‘āt-i Fahm Ḥadīth (Hadith Understanding Studies), Vol. 8, No. 2, 1400 SH (2021 CE).
  24. Najafī, Moḥammad Mahdī, Al-Jāmiʿ li-Ruwāt Aṣḥāb al-Imām al-Riḍā (The Comprehensive Index of the Narrators from the Companions of Imam al-Riḍā), Mashhad: International Conference of Imam Riḍā, 1407 AH (1986 CE).
  25. Najjāshī, Aḥmad bin ʿAlī, Al-Rijāl (The Biographical Evaluation), Islamic Publishing Foundation, Qom, 1365 SH (1986 CE).
  26. Nūbakhtī, Abū Moḥammad Ḥassan bin Mūsā, Farq al-Shīʿah (The Differences of the Shīʿah), Najaf: Ḥaydariyyah Printing House, 1936 CE.
  27. Nūrī, Ḥossein bin Moḥammad, Mustadrak al-Wasāʾil wa Mustanbaṭ al-Masāʾil (Supplement to the Means and Derivation of Issues), Qom: Foundation of the Household of the Prophet, 1420 AH (1999 CE).
  28. Pākatchī, Aḥmad, ʿIlal al-Ḥadīth (Causes of Hadith), Student Scientific Association of Theology, Tehran: Imām Ṣādiq University, 1388 SH (2009 CE).
  29. Shabīrī Zanjānī, Moḥammad Jawād, Tawẓīḥ al-Asnād al-Mushkilah fī al-Kutub al-Arbaʿah (Clarification of the Problematic Chains in the Four Books), Qom: Dār al-Ḥadīth, 1429 AH (2008 CE).
  30. Shīrzād, Moḥammad Ḥassan; Shīrzād, Moḥammad Ḥossein; and Nūrā’ī, Moḥsen, "Jaryān-e Fikrī Adab va Bāzkhānī Dalā’il Ikhrāj va Bāzgāsht-e Aḥmad Barqī be Qom" (Intellectual Stream of Literature and Reevaluation of the Reasons for Ahmad Barqī’s Expulsion and Return to Qom), Taḥqīqāt ʿUlūm Qurān wa Ḥadīth (Research in Quranic and Hadith Sciences), Issue 35, 1396 SH (2017 CE).
  31. Shūshtarī, Moḥammad Taqī, Qāmūs al-Rijāl (Dictionary of Narrators), Qom: Islamic Publishing Foundation, 1378 SH (1999 CE).
  32. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Seyyed Moḥammad Ḥossein, Al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurān (The Balance in Quranic Exegesis), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1393 AH (1973 CE).
  33. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Seyyed Moḥammad Ḥossein, Sunan al-Nabī (The Etiquettes of the Prophet), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1386 SH (2007 CE).
  34. Ṭūsī, Moḥammad bin al-Ḥassan, Rijāl al-Ṭūsī (The Biographical Evaluation of Ṭūsī), Qom: Society of Seminary Teachers, 1415 AH (1994 CE).
  35. Ṭūsī, Moḥammad bin Ḥassan, Al-Fahrist (The Index / Bibliography), Qom: Foundation for Publishing Jurisprudence, 1417 AH (1996 CE).
  36. Ṭūsī, Moḥammad bin Ḥassan, Al-Istibsār fī Mā Ikhtalafa Min al-Aḵbār (The Clarification in What Differs Among the Narrations), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1363 AH (1984 CE).
  37. Ṭūsī, Moḥammad bin Ḥassan, Tahdhīb al-Aḥkām (Refinement of the Judgments), Tehran: Dār al-Kutub al-Islāmīyah, 1365 SH (1986 CE).

 

11- Pajooheshname Hadith Tatbighee
Volume 11, Issue 20 - Serial Number 20
September 2024
Pages 185-212

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 17 August 2022
  • Revise Date: 09 March 2023
  • Accept Date: 26 April 2023

Share

How to cite

Statistics