in the Auṭās expedition; fifthly in the Tabūk expedition; sixthly in the Farewell Pilgrimage. The earliest occasion is thus the Khaibar expedition, which took place in the beginning of the seventh year of Hijrah. The ‘umrah al-Qadzā also relates to the seventh year, the other occasions to the eighth, ninth and tenth years. If mut‘ah was prohibited in the seventh year, as Bukhārī states on the authority of ‘Alī, and this ḥadīth is repeated four times,13 and is also accepted by Muslim and others, it could not have been permitted by the Holy Prophet after this. But as the only occasions on which it is reported to have been permitted relate to the eighth year, it seems that there must have been some misconception. The explanation given by some authorities, that it may have been prohibited on the earliest occasion only as a temporary measure, and that the final and decisive prohibition may have come later, is not only repugnant to reason but goes against the whole course of the history of reform, as brought about by Islām. The evils that prevailed in Arabia were not touched until the Holy Prophet received a Divine revelation, but when a reform was introduced after a Divine revelation, it was impossible that the Holy Prophet himself should have allowed the evil again. It is very probable that the first or a later reporter laboured under a misconception; or, if the ḥadīth which speak of temporary marriages having been contracted are accepted as true, the right explanation seems to be that the practice of mut‘ah was a deep-rooted one, and that repeated injunctions had to be given by the Holy Prophet, or that all people were not at once apprised of the order of its prohibition.

At any rate the report that the Holy Prophet had sent a message to inform people of the legality of temporary marriages in the battle of Auṭās, in the 8th year of Hijrah, clearly seems to have been due to a misconception. It may be that someone who had not, up to that time, been informed of the illegality of a temporary marriage, told his companions that it was allowed, but the Holy Prophet could not have said so after having declared its prohibition at Khaibar. Notwithstanding its clear prohibition in the time of the Holy Prophet, it is stated that some men remained under a misconception even up to the time of ‘Umar, who had again to make a public declaration that temporary marriage was not allowed in Islām (M. 16:3). It may be