Nikah Ijtimah

Nikah Ijtimah (English: combined marriage) is a form of polyandry that existed in the Pre-Islamic period in the Arabian peninsula.

Definition

This form of marriage, according to a Hadith narration attributed to Aisha:

"there were four types of marriage during the ancient Arab period. One ... type of marriage was that a group of less than ten men would assemble and enter upon a woman, and all of them would have sexual relations with her. If she became pregnant and delivered a child and some days had passed after her delivery, she would send for all of them and none of them could refuse to come, and when they all gathered before her she would say to them "You (all) know what you have done and now I have given birth to a child. So it is your child O so and so! Naming whoever she liked and her child would follow him and he could not refuse to take him." ^[1]

This form of marriage was outlawed by Islam, which requires that any man and woman be married prior to sexual intercourse. In addition, Islam requires that the identity of the father be known, in turn prohibiting a woman from having sexual intercourse with more than one man, her husband. See Islamic marital jurisprudence for more information.

History

Controversial Muslims sources claim Muawiya I was conceived in a marriage of this type, and Abu Sufyan acknowledged paternity after receiving compensation. There are contradictory sources regarding if he was in the list of people believed to be Muawiya's father.^[2]

The Mu'tazili scholar Ibn Abu al-Hadid included in his Sharh Ibn al Hadeed the following:

"Mu'awiya wrote a letter to Ziyad, the contents of which included the words 'O son of Sumayya'.^[3]Ziyad replied to Mu'awiya with these words 'Mu'awiya you called me by the name of my mother Sumayya, so as to mock me, well if I am the son of Sumayya then you are 'Ibne Jamaat'^[4] as you were a product of Nikah ijtimah."^[5]

References

1. ^ Although the Salafi Islamic scholar, Muhsin Khan, did not translate it in the English, the original Arabic text states Ayesha calling this Nikah Ijtimah [1].
2. ^ See Abu Sufyan ibn Harb and Shi'a view of Muawiyah I for references.
3. ^ Amongst the Arabs there was a tradition that if one's ancestry was questionable, then that individual would be called by their mother's name. In the same way that Imam Hasan referred to Marwan as 'Ibn Zurqa' — Mu'awiya sought to mock Ziyad by calling him the son of Sumayya.
4. ^ "Ibne Jamaat" means "Son of a congregation".
5. ^ Sharh Ibn al Hadeed Volume 4 page 94 under the Chapter "Mun Kitab Ziyad Ubayya" http://www.answering-ansar.org/answers/muawiya/en/chap11.php

See also

• Pre-Islamic Arabia