Mahr

[muminah]

As-salaamu `alaykum,

When Musa as left Egypt for Madyan he married the daughter of the Prophet Shu'ayb. His mahr mu'ajjal was settled and paid off by binding himself to grazing his father-in-law's cattle for ten years without wages. Presumably Shu'ayb as had paid Safura on Musa's behalf.

I was just struck by the amount. If we were to ask for 10 years of labour, that would be at least £100,000. Based on this, is it reasonable to ask for such a large amount of cash. And why is there such a substantial difference between that and mahr fatimi?

And is mahr fatimi really worth just £300 (approximately)?

[DefendingIslam]

Salam Alaykum:

From sunnipath: (http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.a...ID=556&CATE=10)

A reasonable amount would be the Mahr al-Fatimi, which was the amount Fatima (radhiyallahu anha) was given by Ali (radhiyallahu anhu), approximately 340 dollars or 235 pounds, as this has also been considered the sunna amount. The mahr of the wives of Rasulullah sallahu alayhi wasallam was just a bit more than this.

Perhaps one of the reasons why the Mahr is not supposed to be an exorbitant ammount is that the womenfolk are to be taken care of by the men in Islam. Since many of the Muslim men have become inattentive towards this issue, perhaps that is why the Mahr ammount has become so huge.

[UmHasan]

As-salaamu `alaykum,



I was just struck by the amount. If we were to ask for 10 years of labour, that would be at least £100,000. Based on this, is it reasonable to ask for such a large amount of cash. And why is there such a substantial difference between that and mahr fatimi?

And is mahr fatimi really worth just £300 (approximately)?

There is no maximum limit to what a woman’s mahar can be. As long as both parties are happy with it , there’s no problem. There is a hadeeth of Sayyidinah Umar (RA) where he retracted his decision to limit the amount of mahar after a woman from the congregation opposed his decision.

Also the mahr of Ummul Mu’mineen Umm Habibah (RA) was 4000 dirhams. So if he has the means to give more, he can give whatever he wants. The wealthy according to his means and the restrained according to his means.

But the best marriage is the one where there is minimum expense. A good bride is the the one whose mahr is easy to pay. And the successful marriages are the ones that are simple, economical and according to the sunnah. The mahr Fatimi is a sunnah that is reasonable and realistic.

[muminah]

How much is 4000 dirhams in pounds?

[UmHasan]

Not 100% sure; the value of a shari' dirham fluctuates according to the current price of silver. But I think one dirham is equivalent to approx 3 grams of silver. You could work it out from that. Allahu alam

[UmHasan]

The hadeeth about Sayyadina Umar (RA) I mentioned is :
Sayyadina Umar ibn al-Khattab, once gave a public sermon in which he asked the congregation to refrain from fixing heavy mahrs, and stated that the Prophet had declared no-one should give more than 400 dirhams. A woman immediately stood up and challenged him, quoting the verse 4:20 from the Qur'an: 'But if you decide to take a wife in place of another, even if you had given the first a heap of gold (quintar) for a dowry, you shall not take the least bit back.' Umar (RA) went back to the mimbar and withdrew his words stating 'the woman is right, and Umar is wrong. Whoever wishes may give as much property as he wishes to give.' (Ibn Hajar al-Athqalani, Fath al-Bari, 9:167).