Dowry

familial responsibilities into internal and external spheres, with the woman dealing exclusively with the home and family and the man providing the funds. MAHR MU‘AJJAL At the time of the marriage, the groom hands over to the bride a sum of money called mahr (dower) which is a token of his willing acceptance of the responsibility of bearing all necessary expenses of his wife. This is the original meaning of mahr, although this custom has come to have different connotations in modern times. There are two ways of presenting mahr to the bride. One is to hand it over at the time of the marriage, in which case it is known as mahr mu’ajjal, or promptly given dower. (The word mu’ajjal is derived from ‘ajilah, meaning “without delay.”) During the time of the Prophet and his Companions, mahr mu’ajjal was the accepted practice and the amount fixed was generally quite minimal. The giving of mahr by ‘Ali to Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, is an illustration of how this custom was respected. (It has been recorded in detail in the books of Hadith.) After the marriage had been arranged, the Prophet asked ‘Ali if he had anything he could give as dower in order to make Fatimah his lawfully wedded wife. ‘Ali replied, “By God, I have nothing, O Messenger of God.” The Prophet then asked, “Where is the coat of armor I once gave you?” ‘Ali replied that it was still in his possession (although he later admitted “by the Master of his soul” that it was in a dilapidated condition and, as such, was not even worth four dirhams). The Prophet then instructed him — “since I have married you to Fatimah” — to send the coat of armor to Fatimah, thereby making his union lawful. This then was the sum total of Fatimah’s dower.7 Rabi’ah Aslami, who tells of how he used to serve the Prophet, was asked one day by the latter why he did not get married. Rabi’ah replied that it was because he had nothing to give to his wife-to-be. The Prophet mulled the whole matter over, then asked him to go to a certain Ansar tribe and say that the Prophet had sent him to get married to a particular woman. Rabi’ah did as the Prophet advised, conveying his message to the tribesmen, and was duly married to the woman in question. But he greatly regretted having nothing to give her by way of dower. He came back to the Prophet and told him of his feelings. The Prophet then arranged for the dower by requesting the Chief of the Aslam tribe, Burayda Aslami, to “collect for him (Rabi’ah Aslami) gold equal in weight to one date stone.” Rabi’ah relates how the people of his tribe did just that, whereupon he took the collected gold from them, and went to the Prophet. The latter told him to take it to the girl’s family, and tell them that this was her dower. Rabi’ah did so. They accepted it with pleasure, saying, “It is much, it is good.”8 MAHR MUWAJJAL Another way of giving dower, according to the shari’ah, is to hand it over, not on the occasion of the marriage, but after a certain period of time, the duration of which is fixed by