(1) Al-Tirmidhi reported from Ibn Abbas that he said: “Mut'a (temporary marriage) existed only in the early days of Islam. A man would come to a town where he knew no one and marry a woman for as long as he expected to remain there; she would safeguard his belongings and attend to his affairs. Then, when the verse was revealed, ‘except with their wives or those whom their right hands possess,’ Ibn Abbas said: ‘Every sexual relation apart from these two is forbidden.’” Its chain includes Musa ibn Ubaydah, who is weak. Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari, 9:173: “Reports that Ibn Abbas retracted his view permitting mut'a have been transmitted through weak chains, whereas the attribution to him of its permissibility is more authentic.” Ibn al-Mundhir said in al-Ishraf, 4:75: “It is established that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited mut'a marriage. His statement, ‘Indeed, Allah has forbidden it until the Day of Resurrection,’ indicates that this prohibition cannot itself be abrogated. Reports have reached us from some early authorities permitting it, but they have no valid meaning or benefit in light of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Among those who prohibited mut'a was the Commander of the Faithful, Umar ibn al-Khattab. Al-Qasim ibn Muhammad said: Its prohibition is in the Quran: ‘Those who guard their private parts, except with their wives or those whom their right hands possess, for then they are not blameworthy.’ It was narrated from Ibn Masud that he said: It was abrogated by the verses concerning divorce, the waiting period, and inheritance. The same was narrated from Ali. Ibn Umar said: ‘I know it only as illicit sexual intercourse.’ Ibn al-Zubayr said: ‘Mut'a is explicit fornication, and I know of no one who practices it except that I would have him stoned.’ Al-Hasan al-Basri said: ‘Mut'a lasted for only three days, until Allah Most High and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, prohibited it.’ Those who held mut'a marriage invalid include Malik, al-Thawri, al-Shafii, Ishaq, Abu Thawr, and the scholars of legal reasoning. I know of no one today who permits mut'a marriage except some of the Rafidah, a Shi'i sect; and no weight can be given to a view whose proponent contradicts the Quran and Sunnah.” Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, had understood the permissibility of mut'a to apply to one compelled by prolonged celibacy and financial hardship. He later refrained from this view after being told, “Your legal opinion has been carried far and wide.” He said: “To Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return. This is not the ruling I gave, nor what I intended. I permitted it only in the same way that Allah permitted carrion, blood, and pork: only for one compelled by necessity. It is like carrion, blood, and pork.” See Tafsir al-Qurtubi, 5:129-133; Fath al-Bari, 9:166-174; Ma'alim al-Sunan by al-Khattabi, 3:18; Talkhis al-Habir, 3:154-156; Nayl al-Awtar, 7:304-310; the treatise on marriage by Shaykh Muhammad al-Hamid, in his collected treatises, pp. 5-97; Khatam al-Nabiyyin by Shaykh Muhammad Abu Zahrah, 2:1089-1097; the standard works of fiqh in their chapters on marriage; and vol. 1 of Sharh Qanun al-Ahwal al-Shakhsiyyah by al-Sibai. (2) Reported by Ibn al-Mundhir and al-Bayhaqi through Salim ibn Abd Allah ibn Umar, from his father. See Fath al-Bari, 9:173. (3) In manuscript “A,” this phrase reads: “When the two parties contract it for a specified term in exchange for payment.”