A controversy, provoked by a Fatwa published by Al-Sheikh Farhat Al-Eid Al-Monji and some other religious authorities in Al-Azhar, initiated some wide argumentations in newspaper and electronic websites. The Fatwa rejected marriage and divorce scenes in TV shows, claiming that such marriages should be considered valid and real. In other words, an already – married actress performing a scene where she gets married, becomes married to two women .

The Fatwah alludes to the Prophet's saying that there are three matters ought to be taken seriously, even when meant to be a joke: Nikah (marriage), setting a slave free, and divorce.

According to the Fatwah, if a TV scene depicts and actress and an actor, with the religious legal authority empowered to get them married holding the contract , and they get married according to the legal way, using the conventional religious formula, then they are considered married. And if the actress is already married, then she becomes wedded to too husband.

After knowing where the actors and actresses stand regarding the Fatwah, we have to learn the religious view. Therefore I met the Religious Authority Muhammad Hussein; who responded to some of the actor's and actresses' questions and being a religious authority, he stated his position.

Q: a member of Al-Azhar's Fatwah commission, published a Fatwah claiming that TV or movies marriage scenes are real and we shouldn't deal with them in an indifferent manner. What is your comment?

A: the legal and jurisdictional terms, according to which marriage becomes valid, include the serious will of both parties getting married.

Q: What is your opinion regarding what the Sheikh said when alluding to the Prophet's saying that: there are three matters considered to be taken seriously even if meant to be a joke. :Nikah, setting a slave free, and divorce?

A: Taking the authentic Hadith and jurisdictional rules into consideration, we believe that the contract is not to be considered valid unless both parties are absolutely serious in their intentions about starting a legal matrimony.

The same applies to divorce; if the husband articulates the terms of divorce to his wife, and he was not serious in his intentions, she will still remain his wife and the marriage relation will still be existing among them.

One of the formula's conditions is the availability of the sincere will of the husband and the wife in both cases: marriage and divorce, thus, the two parties should have the intention of fulfilling what the formula says:

Q: does this mean that the woman is not legally divorced, even when the husband articulates in front of her the formula of divorce: "You are divorced, divorced, divorced"! without actually meaning it?

A: According to the Shiite sect, divorce is entitled under several conditions; some of which are: 1- the wife should be in a state of parity, meaning that she mustn't have had a sexual intercourse with her husband, and if she were in such a state, still the divorce is considered null and void. 2- there must be two just witnesses, stressing on the fact that they should be just. 3- the husband must take the divorce decision deliberately and purposefully; thus, the imposed or joking divorce is invalid. In addition to the fact that there is no such thing as a 2-times divorce; it is actually a single divorce, as evident in the sayings of the Prophet and as told in the narrations of Ahl el-Beit.

Q; since you stress that much on the intention in matrimony, is a real marriage based on unreal intentions considered legal, even when performed in the presence of the religious legal authority responsible for getting people married?

A: When it comes to this subject, there happens to be juristic differences between the Sunni doctrine and the Shiite one. According to the Sunni doctrine, the presence of 2 just witnesses is a must in order to testify on the marriage contract. While according to the Shiite doctrine, the two witnesses aren't considered a condition in marriage. Quite the contrary, the man and the woman can establish a marriage without having to go to an official authority to conclude the contract or the presence of two just witnesses. The role of this authority is only to document the contract in the legal institutions.

I believe that the Islamic jurisdiction meant to make marriage less complicated; that is why it didn't require the presence of a religious authority to conclude a marriage contract because marriage represents an extremely personal relation established by a man and a woman according to their own will.

Q: And what if materialistic advantages got involved in marriage?

There is some other point beyond the legal side in marriage; that is the purpose might be of a sexual nature, or some one might desire to exploit the other partner financially, and it might even be for a political or service-exchange, such as when an old rich man is need of being taken care of (without having any sexual need towards her) marries a young woman whom, in return, is in need of ensuring her well-being and welfare. Such cases can also be found outside the Islamic or Eastern region; that is, it is common amongst artists.

Marriage represents a relation between two individuals. It is based on the goals sought by both parties. Thus we can't judge an advantage-based marriage as invalid, but we believe that it is must for a marriage relationship to be based on foundations of love Mercy and respect as mentioned in some Quranic verses.

Q: What are the characteristics of the religious authority entitled to publish a fatwa, especially that a large number of Egyptian artists said that not every religious scholar have the right to issue a fatwa.

A: Two have the right of issue a fatwa: the first is the one whose knowledge empowers him to deduce a jurisdictional verdict without being officially authorized to publish a fatwa, unlike the other who is officially authorized to deduce a jurisdictional verdict. In addition to the fact that the person entitled to publish fatwas must be a just knowledgeable jurist, and aware of the Islamic jurisdictional culture; or else his fatwa is considered invalid.

Q; Do you expect that the fatwa remains ink on paper?

A: I haven't studied the fatwa yet. But if it is as described by the question , then the fatwa is considered worthless.