MAHR MU‘AJJAL

9. Dowry ~ 205 ~ 166. Qur’an, 4:34. 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.”168