Firstly: The hadith was narrated by both Bukhari and Muslim in their authentic collections, from Abdullah ibn Mas’ud, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: “We used to fight alongside the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and we had no wives with us. We said, ‘Should we not have ourselves castrated?’ The Prophet (peace be upon him) forbade us from doing so, but he permitted us to contract temporary marriage for a stipulated period, giving her a garment.” Then Abdullah recited the verse: “O you who have believed, do not prohibit the good things which Allah has made lawful to you and do not transgress. Indeed, Allah does not like transgressors.” [Al-Ma’idah, 5:87].
In addition, the narration of Al-Bayhaqi: “We were young men… We said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, should we not castrate ourselves?’ He said, ‘No.’ Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) permitted us to contract temporary marriage for a stipulated period, giving her a garment.” Then Abdullah recited the verse: “O you who have believed, do not prohibit the good things which Allah has made lawful to you.”
Secondly: This narration and similar ones discuss two matters: castration and temporary marriage (mut’ah).
– As for castration, which refers to suppressing sexual desire in men, another narration is mentioned in Sahih al-Bukhari from the hadith of Abu Huraira. He said, “I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, I am a young man, and I fear for myself from committing sin, and I do not have the means to marry women.’ He remained silent. I repeated my request like that, and he remained silent. I repeated my request again, and he remained silent. I repeated it once more, and then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: ‘O Abu Huraira, the pen has dried after writing what you are destined to encounter. Therefore, either castrate or not'”
However, this hadith does not indicate the permissibility of castration. Instead, it serves as a commentary on the matter of destiny. It has as if the Prophet, peace be upon him, is saying that even if you were to castrate, what Allah has destined will still happen. Furthermore, the Prophet prohibited castration in other authentic narrations:
– Among these is what I mentioned from Bukhari and Muslim above.
– In addition, among them is what Bukhari also narrated from Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas: “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) rejected the request of Uthman bin Mazh’un for celibacy. If he had granted permission, we would have castrated ourselves.”
– And among them is what Ahmad narrated in his Musnad from Abdullah ibn Amr: He said, “A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, permit me to castrate myself.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, ‘The castration of my Ummah is fasting and standing in prayer.'”
– And among them is the hadith: “O young people…,” where fasting is mentioned but not castration.
As for temporary marriage (mut’ah), there is nothing in the hadith that indicates its continued practice. We do not argue that the Prophet permitted it once or twice for a limited period. However, the disagreement arises over whether its permissibility continued, as claimed by the Shia. We say that there is almost a consensus among Sunni scholars, with an exception being what Ibn Hazm narrated from some scholars, that temporary marriage (mut’ah) has been abrogated. This conclusion is supported by the following evidence:
Firstly: The wording of the hadith states: “for a stipulated period,” which could imply the permissibility for a certain duration followed by abrogation. It could also be understood that marriage is permissible for a stipulated period. The general principle is that when ambiguity is introduced, the basis for inference becomes void.
Secondly: The phrase “We were young men” suggests that this happened at the beginning of the matter. Considering that Abdullah ibn Mas’ud passed away in the year 32 AH at an age of slightly over sixty, we can conclude that he made this statement when referring to his youthful years. When we review historical events, we find that this coincides with the time of the Opening of Khaybar or the Opening of Mecca, during which narrations vary regarding its temporary permissibility and subsequent prohibition:
And among those instances is what Bukhari and Muslim narrated with their chains of transmission from Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, prohibited the practice of temporary marriage (mut’ah) and the consumption of the meat of domesticated donkeys during the time of the Khaybar campaign.
In another narration: “He prohibited the practice of temporary marriage with women on the day of Khaybar, as well as the consumption of domesticated donkey meat.”
Similarly, Muslim also narrated in his Sahih from Ar-Rabi’ bin Sabrah, from his father: “The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, prohibited the practice of temporary marriage with women on the day of the Opening of Mecca.”
Moreover, in another narration from Muslim: The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said, “O people, I had permitted you to practice temporary marriage with women, but Allah has prohibited it until the Day of Resurrection. So, whoever has any of these women should let her go, and do not take back anything of what you have given them.”
Therefore, these pieces of evidence, along with others, abrogate the permissibility [of temporary marriage].
Thirdly: Even if we were to assume that Ibn Mas’ud held the belief in the continued permissibility of temporary marriage and passed away as a believer in this concept, the outcome would be that he did not receive the abrogation (naskh), as happened with Ibn Abbas and his view does not contradict the consensus of the majority of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them.
And Allah knows best.
Fatwa by Dr. Khālid Naṣr