Islamic marriage advice and family advice

Tag Archive for ‘misyar’

Misyar Marrriage in Islam

I am publishing here Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s famous (or infamous) fatwa on misyar marriage, which is a type of marriage in which the husband does not support the wife financially and does not live with her, but can visit her freely and have sexual relations, with no expectation of having children.

I personally find this type of marriage arrangement to be damaging and improper. If you look at the circumstances under which it takes place (something our scholars often fail to do) you’ll see that it is always surrounded by secrecy, and usually ends in divorce. One of the purposes of marriage in Islam is procreation of children, but the last thing misyar couples want is to conceive childen, because then the “marriage” must be made public. Misyar marriage has often been called “legal prostitution.”

Is misyar marriage right or wrong?

For those who do not know, “zawaj misyar”, or misyar marriage, is a type of marriage in which the couple engages in a legal marriage contract with two witnesses and dowry, but the husband does not move in with the wife, and offers her no financial support. Often the husband is already married and keeps the arrangement secret from his first wife. These marriages have no expectation of having children and generally try to avoid it. They are kept secret from the surrounding community. Often the only ones who know are the two witnesses of the marriage contract, and the woman’s family.