Page "Concubinage" Paragraph 14

Certain Jewish thinkers, such as Maimonides, believed that concubines are strictly reserved for kings, and thus that a commoner may not have a concubine ; indeed, such thinkers argued that commoners may not engage in any type of sexual relations outside of a marriage.

Before Maimonides concluded this, Sunni Muslims officially prohibited mutah ( i. e. temporary marriage ) relationships ; some commentators ' suggest that Maimonides changed his view in response to this development, similar to Gershom ben Judah's ban on polygamy being made after Christians had prohibited it.