Divorce Mut ah in Islamic Schools of Law

In all its variants – including Haj Mut’ah, Nikah Mut’ah, and Divorce Mut’ah – Mut’ah means temporary and unstable benefit. The present study examines Divorce Mut’ah (the conditions for determining and collecting the financial rights of a divorced woman), which is often interpreted wrongly as Mahr Mut’ah, in terms of semantics, examples, and the reasons explaining its legitimacy and determining its obligation or desirability in the form of a contrastive analysis of Shia and Sunni perspectives in order to achieve a synthesis of the reasons for its obligation and desirability. Since Islamic texts such as the Quran and Hadiths (Sayings) refer to Mut’ah only in relation to the reasons for divorce (Talaq) separation, the present study, using a descriptive-analytical methodology, infers the possibility of Mut’ah in other modes of separation too, such as Faskh (termination), Li’an (invoking curse), Irtidād (apostasy), etc. Despite the common view that considers a man’s financial situation as the criterion for determining the quantity of Divorce Mut’ah, this study evaluates the possibility of a woman’s financial situation and character for determining the quantity of Mut’ah.