Answer
Wa `alaykum as-salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
it is true that the Prophet (peace be upon him) married Maymunah during the journey of Hajj, but this took place on his way back from Hajj, not on his way to Hajj.
Responding to your question, Dr. `Abdul Fattah Idrees, Professor of Usul Al-Fiqh, Al-Azhar University, states,
It is known that a Muslim in the state of ihram (ritual sanctity) cannot get married, or even marry a woman to another man. This is due to the hadith narrated by `Uthman ibn `Affan in which he says, “I heard the Prophet (peace be upon him) say, “A muhrim (a pilgrim in the state of ihram) must neither get married, nor marry a woman to another man, nor should he make proposal of marriage.” (Muslim)
As for your question, it is true that the Prophet (peace be upon him) married Maymunah during the journey of Hajj, but this took place on his way back from Hajj, not on his way to Hajj.
Regarding the hadith narrated by Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him), he may have been confused, as he was still young. He may have thought that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Maymunah while being in the state of ihram, but that was only an introduction to the marriage, while the actual marriage only took place on the way back from Hajj, after taking off the clothes of ihram.
Another point is: how could the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbid his followers from doing something and do it himself? This could not happen as he is the role model of the Ummah.
In addition, there are many hadiths narrated by many companions such as Ibn `Umar, Yazid Ibn Al-Asamm, and Abu-Rafi` that contradict Ibn `Abbas’s narration. Commenting on that hadith, Ibn Numayr said that, “I told Az-Zuhri (a prominent scholar of hadith) about it and he said, “Yazid Ibn Al-Asam told me that he (the Prophet) married her while he was halal (not muhrim).” (Muslim)
In one of these hadiths, Abu-Rafi` said, “He married her while he was not muhrim, and I was the messenger between them” (At-Tabarani(
Given the above, it is clear that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) married Maymunah on the way back from Hajj while he was not muhrim; after taking off the clothing of ihram.
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.