It is the custom of people upon marriage that the suitor or the husband gives a specific amount to the wife's family without stating that it is the mahr, but this is a mutual agreement between them.
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The questioner : Your Eminence, may Allah preserve you. As you know, it is the custom of people upon marriage that the suitor or the husband gives a specific amount to the wife's family without stating that it is the mahr, but this is a mutual agreement between them. For example, he gives thirty thousand riyals to buy the necessary items, and when the contract is written, it states that the mahr is only one thousand riyals. The question, O Your Eminence, is: Is this action permissible? Also, some fathers take the amount exceeding the specified mahr and deprive the daughter of it, claiming that the mahr is only what is specified in the contract. It is not hidden from your eminence the need of people these days for money; for example, one thousand riyals cannot provide the woman with the necessities of the wedding due to the difference in times and circumstances. Is this father's action permissible?
The Shaykh : This action is not permissible because it is contrary to reality. The mahr is what the husband paid in exchange for enjoying the wife, and it is the right of the wife, as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:[An-Nisa 4:4] Thus, the mahrs were made for the women, and the disposal of the mahrs was made for the women. No one has a right to a woman's mahr, even if it is her father. It is not permissible for the authorized official, if he knows that the reality is that the mahr is thirty thousand, to write the mahr as one thousand riyals, because things follow from it. For example, if he divorces her before consummation and we say that he owes half the mahr, can it be said that this husband has only five hundred riyals? It cannot be said that. The matter is serious, and it is obligatory that the mahr be made what the husband paid in exchange for marrying this woman. However, naming and specifying it in the contract is better, though not obligatory. If the authorized official writes that the mahr was agreed upon and the woman received it, that is sufficient. But it is better that it be mentioned in case a dispute arises that necessitates halving the mahr or returning it all to the husband, and if the matter is regulated and defined. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. This is your sister in Allah, N J M, who says.
The Shaykh : This action is not permissible because it is contrary to reality. The mahr is what the husband paid in exchange for enjoying the wife, and it is the right of the wife, as Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, said:
And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease.
وَءاتُوا النِّسَاءَ صَدُقَاتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةً فإن طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَنْ شَيْءٍ مِنْهُ نَفْسًا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيئًا مَرِيئًاThe questioner : May Allah reward you, O Shaykh. This is your sister in Allah, N J M, who says.