Temporary Marriage (Sigheh or Mut’ah)

Temporary Marriage (Sigheh or Mut’ah)

From Islam’s point of view marriage has several benefits and the philosophy of marriage necessity is formed based on its advantages (Tiliouine, Habib, Robert A. Cummins, and Melanie Davern., 2009). Preservation of human generation, mental and physical tranquility and equilibrium, moral and social health of society, meeting human natural and instinctive needs, and satisfying the need for loving and being loved, etc.,

are among the advantages of marriage.  The Islamic jurists (Faqih) counted marriage as an emphasized recommendation (Mustahab Moakad) according to the hadiths and anecdotes they have narrated on marriage importance; they consider marriage compulsory (wajib) for those who may commit a sin due to being single.

Based on Islam, man and woman become halal (permissible) to each other through marriage and marriage contract is signed in two forms of permanent and temporary (Rizvi, 2014). In permanent marriage, no duration is specified and the woman undergoing this kind of marriage is called Daemeh (permanent); in temporary marriage, duration of matrimony is specified and the woman is married for one hour, one day, one month, one year or longer.  However, marriage duration should not exceed the lifespan of wife or husband; otherwise the contract will be annulled. The woman practicing this kind of marriage is called “Mut’ah” or “Sigheh” Of course, there are disputes over maximum duration of temporary marriage in Iran.

Some people believe that marriage duration should not exceed lifespan of man or woman and the contract will be annulled otherwise.

But majority of the religious scientists believe that the parties can marry for a long period of time, for instance for 50 years or even longer; but the exact period of time should be mentioned in Sigheh contract. Therefore, temporary marriage or discontinuous marriage which is discussed in this article is a type of marriage approved by Shia jurists; on the contrary, this type of marriage is illegitimate in Sunni Islam (Murata, 2014).