DOWRY AND DOWER

DOWER (MAHR) At the time of marriage, the groom gives the bride a sum of money mahr (dower) as a token of his willingness to accept responsibility of bearing all necessary expenses of his wife. This is the original meaning of mahr. 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, to give promptly was the accepted practice and the amount fixed was generally quite minimal. Another way of giving dower, according to the Islamic law is to give it, after a certain period of time. This has to be settled at the time of the marriage. This form of dower is called mahr mu’aijal, or dower given after a period of time. This has often been willfully misinterpreted as implying an indefinite postponement of the giving of dower. The above mentioned dower, however, can take the form of some service performed by the husband. When Moses left Egypt for Madyan, he married Safoora, the daughter of the Prophet Shuayb. His dower was settled and paid off by binding himself to the service of his elderly father-in-law for a period of ten years. Only after performing this service for a full ten years did he leave Madyan for Egypt. THE OPINION OF JURISTS The Islamic law favours immediate handing over of dower. This was the practice followed by all of the Prophet’s Companions. Deferred dower is an alternative, but is not equal to prompt discharging of this responsibility. It is a concession made to those who are unable to meet the requirements at the time of marriage. NO HEAVY BURDEN The dower, in cash or kind, has to be fixed keeping the bridegroom’s position in life. It should be affordable to him, be it a lump sum in cash or some article of value. The jurists have different views to offer on what the minimum amount should be, but all agree that it should be substantial enough for something to be bought against it. There are no The Islamic law favours immediate handing over of dower.