Liaison office of Grand Ayatullah Sayyid Ali Al Sistani (L.M.H.L) in London, Europe, North and South America.
The relation between man and woman becomes lawful by contracting marriage.
There are two kinds of marriages:
Permanent marriage
Fixed-time marriage
In a permanent marriage, the period of matrimony is not fixed, and it
isforever. The woman with whom such a marriage is concluded is called da'ima
(i.e. a permanent wife).
In a fixed time marriage (Mut'ah), the period of matrimony is fixed, for
example, matrimonial relation is contracted with a woman for an hour, or a day,
or a month, or a year, or more. However, the period fixed for the marriage
should not exceed the span of normal lives of the spouses, because in that case,
the marriage will be treated as a permanent one. This sort of fixed time
marriage is called Mut'ah or Sigha.