You probably heard of the ‘temporary marriage’ practice, used by some believers of the Shia religion. Lana mentioned it in her portrait last week . 

This marriage, Zawâj al mut’a in Arabic, loosely translated to Pleasure marriage in English, is a temporary marriage contract between a man and a woman that allows them to have sex. It is a spoken or written agreement, concluded with or without a witness, that defines the duration of the marriage (it can be for one hour or for life) as well as the amount of the dowry the husband must pay to his wife-to-be (from a dime to millions of dollars). The spouses aren’t obliged to live under the same roof and the husband doesn’t have to cater to his wife’s every financial need.

Historically it was used so that a man could have a wife for a short while when travelling long distances.

This practice was invented before the birth of Islam, and was in use in the time of prophet Muhammad’s life. Calif Umar (634-644), the 3rd calif after Muhammad, abolished it because he equated it to prostitution. Since Umar was their enemy, Shias decided to keep this type of marriage. For them, pleasure marriage was authorized by the Prophet himself, so it couldn’t be abolished. 

Nowadays, this type of marriage is quite controversial in the world and in Lebanon.  Though it is allowed in the Twelver Shia branch (which represent 90 % of all Shia), it is rejected by Sunnis and the remaining Shias. 

People use it to be able to have sexual relations outside of a traditional marriage  without them being “haram”. Hence its nickname.

Sources
-Chebel, Malek. « Sexualité, pouvoir et problématique du sujet en islam » Confluences Méditerranée, vol.41,no.2,2002,pp.47-63.
-Lamchichi, Abderrahim, «  Eros et sacré. Sociétés, religion et éthique sexuelle » ,  Confluences Méditerranée, vol. 41, no, 2, 2002,pp9-2
– «  La gravité des relations hors mariage ou la fornication en islam » , Ajib.fr, 17 janvier 2017
–Mervin Sabrina, « Normes relgieuse et loi du silence : le mariage temporaire chez les chiites du Liban », p47-58, presse de l’IFPO
-BBC

This article is part of our series on sexuality in Lebanon, #LFonsexuality

Reporting and writing: Morgan Hamdan and Soraya Hamdan
Translation: Nour Chidiac/MJ Daoud
Illustration: Eva Besse/ photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Editing: MJ Daoud