Maulana Maudoodi’s attempts to defend Umar

Sunni scholar Sayyid Abu’l A’la Maudoodi in his Rasail wa Masail Volume 2 page 22 wrote:

“The reality is this, of the practices that existed during the jahiliyya, Nikah Mut’ah was also one, a women would be given a gift, would then be married for a specific time. The approach of Rasulullah (s) was that he would not deem a practise to be abrogated, until Allah (swt) revealed a specific order to him, rather he would maintain silence, or would even permit his adherents to adhere to it, subject to circumstance, until a Surah was revealed in connection with Mut’ah. In the beginning he remained silent, but when on travel or Jihad people highlighted their sexual frustrations, Rasulullah (s) permitted it as an order had not yet been revealed to Rasulullah (s). When the order came he outlawed it, but this order did not reach the ears of all the people, which is why some people due to their ignorance continued to practise Mut’ah. Finally, Umar in his reign enforced the order with complete strength.”

Reply

If only Maudoodi the great commentator of the Qur’an could elaborate as to when this order took place? When was it revealed? Which verse was revealed to abolish this practise? Did such an order only reach the Ummah via the words of Rasulullah (s)? Did Allah (swt) not see the need to send a verse to put an end to this jahiliyya practise? Maudoodi’s claim that the order had not reached the ears of everyone and hence continued to be practised on account of ignorance, clearly points to the fact that the prohibition had not occurred in the Qur’an, if it had then it would have reached all the people.

The more we analyse the arguments of Maudoodi, the more weak his arguments become evident. Rasulullah (s) passed through his life, Abu Bakr his entire reign as Khalifa, the people continued to practise Nikah Mut’ah, it was ultimately left to Umar to put his foot down who utilised his complete strength to bring this practise to an end. Was there no strength in an order that had been given by Allah (swt) and his Prophet (s) that would have lead to the Sahaba to bow to such a prohibition? What strength did Umar possess to enable him to bring Mut’ah to an end, strength that Allah (swt) and Rasulullah (s) had missing in their itinerary? These comments of Maudoodi are indeed amazing.