THE COMPANIONS AND THEIR MARRIAGES

9. Dowry ~ 212 ~ “the most blessed marriage is one in which the marriage partners place the least burden on each other.”178 Certainly, the most trouble free marriage is one in which the existing resources are sufficient to meet all normal requirements. There was once a case of a certain individual having become engaged without having anything to give as dower. When this came to the attention of the Prophet, he asked him over and over again if he really had nothing to give. When the man replied in the negative, the Prophet, far from telling him that he should borrow money and then get married, asked him if he had not learned certain parts of the Qur’an by heart. On receiving an affirmative answer from him, the Prophet said, “I therefore marry you to that woman. The dower you give will be that part of the Qur’an which you have committed to memory. “179 In other words, he should have to teach that part of the Qur’an to his wife. The simplicity which marked the occasion of marriage in the days of the Prophet is well illustrated by ‘Abdur Rahman ibn ‘Auf, one of the