Egyptian cleric allows second marriages that last only a few hours

Al Masry al-Youm reports that Dr. Ahmed Karima, Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, has allowed husbands to take second wives on a “part-time” basis, under specific conditions.

The main issue is that the existing wife must agree to having her husband sleep with someone else for a few hours, and a nuptial agreement that the second "wife" has no claims to be provided with a place to live and does not stay overnight, that the marriage is witnessed by two men and that the man pays his "wife" a dowry.

Yes, it sounds like legalized prostitution.

Karima does not agree with the longer "temporary" marriages where men who travel pick up another "wife" for a fre months and discard them when they leave.

His opinion has caused an uproar in Egypt. Egypt's Dar al Ifta, which is an official Egyptian authority on Islamic law, tweeted a statement on the controversy that, even when translated into English, seems impenetrable:

We should not be drawn behind the calls for modern terminology in marriage which has increased in recent times wherein lies a love of showing off and fame and destabilization of values, which creates confusion in society and negatively affects the meaning of stability and cohesion of the family that our religion seeks and the state has nurtured through laws.

It sounds like they are expressing disapproval but tacitly admitting that there is nothing technically wrong.with this practice.

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