On the pretext of trying to curb the increasing divorce cases in the country, an Egyptian lawyer launched an initiative called "trial marriage", according to which the conditions of the spouses for the form of life between them are determined in a civil contract set for a specific period of time, and the separation between the two partners cannot take place before that period.

The initiative launched by the director of the Cairo Center for Legal Studies, Dr. Ahmed Mahran, sparked a wide societal debate that extended to a decisive comment by the two largest religious institutions in the country, namely Dar Al Ifta and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif.

According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics - an official body - there were 225 thousand divorce cases in Egypt in 2019 compared to 201 thousand cases in 2018, with a rate of one divorce every two minutes and 20 seconds, while marriage contracts in 2019 amounted to 927 thousand marriage contracts compared to 870 Alpha in 2018.

The idea originated

After 3 years of her marriage, one of the wives resorted to Ahmed Mahran in order to file a divorce lawsuit from her husband, but the lawyer, instead of taking the necessary legal measures in this case, contacted the husband and offered to resolve the dispute by concluding an agreement requiring the participation of the marriage according to a specified period of time. Not less than 3 years.

Mahran said - in televised statements - that he suggested that the spouses write their demands in a contract titled “An Agreement on Sharing Marriage,” which was promoted by the media after that as a “trial marriage,” describing it as the most appropriate for this stage in which divorce cases are increasing.

The director of the Cairo Center for Legal Studies derived that idea from the "list of marital movables", which is a legal contract attached to the marriage contract documenting the ownership of both partners of the marital home equipment, and the husband signs a binding declaration to return all the movables list in the event of separation.

Mahran defended his idea, stressing that the marriage-sharing agreement contract is just a civil contract attached to the marriage document, and it has nothing to do with the marriage document, "only completing the conditions between the spouses that they agreed upon in order to preserve the house and not disagree and divorce .. The marriage itself is not temporary, but the civil contract is temporary." For 3 years or more, "he says.

And he went on, "The purpose of determining the period of the contract attached to the marriage is to restrict the spouses to live together for a certain period of at least 3 years. When each party knows that there is a contract that he signed, he thinks a thousand times before the divorce step."

Regarding the name of the marriage of experience, he said that he chose an attractive name as a kind of media marketing to attract attention to a new idea, stressing that he had completed about 220 contracts of this kind recently.

A document for a trial marriage contract, according to what was published by lawyer Ahmed Mahran (communication sites)

Legally void

With the spread of talk about Mahran's initiative, the Al-Azhar International Fatwa Center hastened to issue a statement in which it considered the marriage of experience a corrupt condition that has no significance, stressing that the requirement for the termination of the marriage contract at the end of a certain period makes the contract null and forbidden.

Al-Azhar commented on the image of the partnership marriage contract, saying in its statement, "It is inconsistent with the pillars of the marriage system in Islam, and clashes with its provisions and purposes, in addition to the abuse it contains of women."

While the Egyptian Dar Al Iftaa waited in its ruling on this type of marriage, as it restricted the matter to research and study, then after that it issued a statement whose content does not differ from its counterpart issued by Al-Azhar.

The fatwa affirmed that trial marriage carries negative meanings extraneous to the values ​​of religious Egyptian society, which refuses what contradicts Sharia or social values, explaining that the requirement to prevent the husband from his right to divorce his wife during a certain period after marriage is one of the invalid conditions.

Because it revokes the inherent right of the husband, which the Sharia has made for him, which is the right to divorce.

Accordingly, according to the Dar Al Iftaa, the requirement of this condition if it was before the marriage contract is not valid, and if it is after it, then it is a null condition, so the contract is valid and the condition is null.

And you are marriage for love or traditional?

No experience 😂🤣🤣 # Marriage_Experiment pic.twitter.com/t2RG4VyJ2i

- 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥 (@ Immosta) January 18, 2021

Criticism and irony

The idea of ​​a trial marriage sparked widespread controversy on social media platforms, as the comments came with criticism and ridicule.

Yasser Shawky commented on his Facebook account, saying, "This is a new type that will soon be exploited as a kind of circumvention of Sharia, such as temporary marriage and customary marriage with the intention of adultery and licensed prostitution."

Meanwhile, a member of the Shura Council for the Salafi Nour Party, Salah Abdel-Maaboud, criticized the marriage of temptation through a tweet in which he asked, “Do God have the law of the man being tried and the woman being tried in the name of the marriage of experience .. What marriage is this? !! ​​... But what is this legalization? !!”

In Allah's law, the man is tried and the woman is tried in the name of #


marriage_expert. What marriage is this? !!


But what is the law of this? !!

- Salah Abdulmaboud (@eng_slah) January 19, 2021

A hidden crime

For his part, consultant psychiatrist at Al-Azhar University, Dr. Jamal Abu Al-Azayem, considered this type of marriage a hidden crime, explaining that this form occurs in many areas where sexual perversion increases.

He explained, in a press statement, that a woman loses many of her rights under this form of marriage, and becomes in a bad social and psychological state, adding that the psychological consequences and effects are dangerous for both spouses, but the most affected woman becomes without rights.

Abu Al-Azayem added that the family is the nucleus of society and is entrusted with creating a solid relationship, and both partners have the right to establish a valid marital relationship.

In the same context, journalist Khaled Singer spoke in an article titled “What come you will try!”, And he asked disapprovingly, “Finally, Egyptians sleep their night to wake up to a new type that has been called“ the marriage of experience ”.. about what experience these people are talking about? Is it a commercial deal? Or a partnership to market a product until the two parties enter into an experiment, either to complete the marriage or to annul it?

He added that marriage itself does not need experience, as Islam legalized the engagement before concluding the marriage contract in order for rapprochement between the suitor and his fiancée to occur under family supervision, and for each of them to get to know the other better. As for the agreement and convergence, the marriage contract is concluded, or the difference and dissonance of ideas here is the decision. To annul the sermon.

And he added, "Those who are enthusiastic about this corrupt contract should be tried on charges of inciting discord within society, inciting immorality and immorality, spreading immorality, and even contempt of religion."

He concluded his article, "To everyone who has a stake in a misguided idea, a fame lure with a corrupt fatwa, or a greedy person for money or a position with an abnormal opinion that stirs up strife and strife in society ... Egyptians, as simple as they are, are intelligent in distinguishing between the bad and the precious from the poisoned and invasive ideas ... To confuse society doomed to failure. "