ما الفرق بين الزنا وزواج المتعة؟

Both fornication (zina) and mut'ah marriage (temporary marriage) are forbidden. However, mut'ah marriage was legislated at the beginning of Islam and then abrogated, unlike fornication, which was never legislated. One who is proven to have committed fornication by evidence or confession is subject to the prescribed punishment (hadd), and the child born from it is not attributed to him. As for mut'ah marriage, it is annulled without a divorce, and the couple is given a discretionary punishment (ta'zeer) that does not reach the Hadd punishment for fornication, due to the presence of a semblance of legitimacy for those who permitted it, and prescribed punishments are averted by doubts. The child born from it is attributed to his father.