Egypt: Man marries 33 times to facilitate remarriage of divorced spouses
Tahleel marriage is null and void, makes those involved adulterers, religious expert says
Abu Dhabi: An Egyptian man has married 33 women, albeit temporarily, with an intention to divorce and make them permissible for their ex-husbands, local media reported.
Mohammad Al Mallah told MBC Misr TV talk show he married 33 times “in order to return the wives to their ex-husbands after they were divorced three times as a charitable act for the sake of God without any compensation.
“The issue started when one of my colleagues at work suggested that I marry her friend who had been divorced three times so that she would return to her husband as a humanitarian act,” Al Mallah said.
He added if told his act is illegal, he would stop.
Islam gives three chances to a man in divorcing his wife. After the third divorce, the woman becomes unlawful for him and divorce becomes irrevocable. However, they can become permissible for each other only after the ex-wife has married another man and then divorced/widowed by him.
The Quran says (interpretation of the meaning): “And if he has divorced her (the third time), then she is not lawful unto him thereafter until she has married another husband” [Al Baqarah 2:230].
It is believed that the marriage that will make her permissible for her first husband must be a valid marriage. Temporary marriage (Mut’ah marriage) or marriage for the purpose of making her permissible for first husband (Tahleel marriage) are haram and invalid, says Dr. Ahmed Karima, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at Al Azhar University.
“A man cannot marry a woman temporarily with an intention to divorce her and make her permissible for her ex-husband. Such marriages don’t make a woman permissible for her ex-husband,” Karima said.
Majority of Muslim scholars are of same belief and say so.
Quoting the Prophet’s (PBUH) Hadith, Karima said, “Allah has cursed the muhallil (the one who marries a woman and divorces her so that she can go back to her ex-husband) and the muhallal lahu (the ex-husband).” Karima added marriage is a sacred bond and one must not corrupt this precious bond with their ill intentions. If such a case happens and the first husband marries this woman, then they will be considered as an adulterers.