69 million page views

Islamic laws (and apologies for the laws) warp a reader's mind and what Muslims can do about them.

Reader comment on item: Misyar – Temporary Marriage in Sunni Islam
in response to reader comment: Islamic Nikah

Submitted by Prashant (India), May 20, 2022 at 04:47

Dear Dr Pipes, Reader Mohammad Asghar's writeup on Islamic Nikah prodded me to research Islamic laws on marriages more than I had researched ever before. I was surprised by the kinds of marriages and sexual relationships that a man can have with women in Islam. Most modern and ancient societies accepted the monogamous commitment-based marriage between a man and a woman as sufficient. Even in this simple form most societies find marriages to be a complex institution. I wonder how difficult will a Muslim society get when so many different kinds of marital relationships between men and women are allowed. Thousands of Internet pages are present justifying and apologizing for all kinds for Muslim marriages. Making sense of all those justification surely warps the reader's mind.

After spending a few good hours on Islamic marriages, I thought that perhaps the society at that time was very complicated and Muhammad had no choice but to accommodate all sorts of things that were going around. With that in my mind, I researched the Jewish marriages. I found a few docs and what I read made perfect sense to me. If not all things were perfect, none were outrageous either. Muhammad managed to destroy all Meccan Pagans so I cannot say if the Pagans mores of that time were as complicated as what Muhammad and his sharia-partners authored. I think between the then Jews and Christians, Muhammad had two good examples to follow but he messed both of them up. To be precise, Muhammad eliminated the idea of commitment, love, and divinity from the marriage and created a mishmash of difficult alternatives.

What went wrong? I think what complicates the Islamic discussion of marriage is two folds:

First, Muslims are obligated to defend Islam at all costs. They cannot just say that they had some strange things in the past but now they have replaced all of that by a simple love and commitment based monogamous relationship as marriage. But doing things simply like everyone else is way too unislamic for Muslims so Muslims get into an endless spiral of providing hundreds of defenses for questionable practices.

The second fold is more interesting. Muhammad and his Sharia partners were not following any time-tested principles when they designed Islam. In fact, Muhammad invented things as he needed them (don't blame me for saying this. Even, Muhammad's dearest wife Aisha said something to this effect). The things that Muhammad devised for himself were sometimes immoral and wrong and other times they were in contradiction with each other. And, they all these mutually contradictory things were frozen in time. Poor Muslims are left to justify them all simultaneously! No wonder a simple document described the central ideas of a Jewish marriage to me while Muslims need thousands of Internet pages to justify what they have.

I write these things for Muslims. I invite our Muslim friends to compare various types of marriages in Islam with marriages in other religions. Not everything is perfect outside of Islam but also there is very little that will warp your mind. In our modern world, Islam has become an unmanageable mess. Muslims need to research what they have and compare it with whatever else is available. It will be a bit disconcerting in the beginning but in the end it will all end well.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (46) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Islamic Nikah [1650 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Mohammad AsgharMay 17, 2022 17:59281384
Judging Misyar-nikah with modern non-Islamic standards [187 words]PrashantMay 19, 2022 18:36281384
1Islamic laws (and apologies for the laws) warp a reader's mind and what Muslims can do about them. [554 words]PrashantMay 20, 2022 04:47281384
1Good Observation About Why Islamic Approach to Marriage is Its Own Reason for Complicating Married Life [55 words]M ToveyMay 20, 2022 19:24281384
2RE: Astonishing documentary about Muta Marriage revealing shocking truths, often suppressed in the mainstream [282 words]ali mohamadSep 26, 2013 14:00210065
Single, independent women can propose and keep Misyar or Muta relationship. [620 words]KKJun 22, 2012 14:58196532
2Misyar [197 words]muslimfellowDec 7, 2011 02:49191504
MISYAR MARRIAGE - WHY OBJECT [44 words]universal interfaceOct 2, 2009 08:04162455
1temporary marriage is sin [141 words]sajjad aliApr 30, 2009 03:55154711
understand the islam [51 words]RazaJul 1, 2010 08:02154711
2Oh sure. Read about Islam (1) [186 words]TedJul 7, 2010 03:16154711
2Read About Islam (2) [115 words]TedJul 7, 2010 03:22154711
Temporary Marriage in Islam [149 words]Khurram JafriNov 25, 2010 16:03154711
3Islamic Mut3a marriage read and laugh [350 words]dhimmi no moreNov 26, 2010 08:51154711
dont mix misyar is not temporary marriage [211 words]hameedJan 5, 2009 06:19146958
1Misyar is bogus [13 words]MehjabeenJan 12, 2010 14:47146958
from a girl's perspective [374 words]khadijahSep 23, 2008 00:46139045
1Temporary marriages are obscenely hypocritical [291 words]MethaOct 30, 2008 10:17139045
Invitation for those who need to know truth [173 words]ManzarAug 21, 2009 13:14139045
From: Posh Smith [764 words]Toshawb L. WilsonDec 12, 2011 01:30139045
IT IS MEETING DEMAND OF LUST [52 words]M.H.SHARIFJul 9, 2008 12:38134712
1Men taking the lower road [33 words]NajmaJun 10, 2008 15:32131678
YOU CANT BLAME A RELIGION by it followers [62 words]AhmedApr 19, 2008 13:54126188
3Misyar is HARAM for Sunni !!! [69 words]AminaApr 8, 2008 07:43125047
Wrong as early as the the title - Misyar IS NOT a temporary mariage [46 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
QuasarFeb 2, 2008 18:57119471
2Pathetic.. [73 words]DONVANOct 16, 2007 15:36111617
2lack of knowledge [89 words]AdilSep 7, 2011 04:49111617
missyar marriage [8 words]batlaApr 26, 2007 05:3490701
Halal or Haram [46 words]Bayu SetiaJan 31, 2007 21:1575346
1it doesn't matter... [61 words]donvanOct 18, 2007 14:1675346
'misyar' marriage halal [29 words]Abu ZohaNov 16, 2007 04:0375346
why not [10 words]aliMay 6, 2008 03:5075346
To Donavan [76 words]AdilSep 27, 2011 10:1675346
say again?? [47 words]donvanSep 27, 2011 20:5975346
1Does Islam teaches Muta'a or Misyar ?? [234 words]KhatibAug 2, 2006 09:2351508
we should clean the nonsense [43 words]syed ali kazimJul 24, 2007 05:0151508
1Prove it [83 words]No DhimmiOct 16, 2007 21:2651508
4Nonsense... [90 words]donvanOct 17, 2007 10:4651508
1please read it carefully [421 words]Muhammad Taufiq Sheikh (Pakistan)Nov 21, 2007 05:3451508
1Misiyar marriage [287 words]ThiaganOct 15, 2008 08:3551508
1temporary marriage [34 words]JOHN T DYSONOct 27, 2008 09:1651508
subhan allah [47 words]mohammed ibrar ali (u.k)Jan 29, 2009 21:0551508
concept of muta and nakka [103 words]khawarNov 3, 2009 07:3251508
Mutta Reply [285 words]NadeemDec 27, 2009 02:1251508
Natural human desire [41 words]Virgo2010Mar 10, 2010 13:4451508
Errors in Quran [42 words]AdilSep 27, 2011 10:3251508

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)