If the husband and wife specify the value of the mahr in the contract, and then they mutually agree to increase or decrease it, is this valid?
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The questioner : O Shaykh, may Allah bless you. A man contracted marriage with a woman, and at the legal mu'adhdhin he said: "And the mahr is the amount of?"
So the wife's wali remained silent, and the husband's father spoke and said: "The amount of so much in gold or in currency." So after a period of time, is it permissible, O Shaykh, by mutual agreement between the two parties, to change the value of the mahr in the contract, or are they bound by what is in the contract?
The Shaykh : The mahr, may Allah grant you safety, is between the husband and the wife. So if they specify something in the contract and then mutually agree afterwards to more or less, the matter is up to them. That is to say, if the wife says: "I do not want anything but half of the mahr, that is sufficient for me," there is no harm. And I will mention to you a story that happened in our land a long time ago: "A man married a woman with a mahr of one riyal, and he gave the woman the mahr. And on that day, meaning the day of the entry into the previous night, he was sleeping with his wife when a man knocked on the door forcefully. So the husband went down and spoke to this man, and the speech between them intensified and the voices were raised. So the wife came down and listened to him, and behold, he was demanding from her husband a riyal. She returned, and then the gathering between the husband and the man dispersed. And she said: "What does this man who broke the door and whose voices were raised between you and him want?"
He said: "This man is asking me for a riyal from a month or something like that." She said: "This is the riyal that you gave me, so fulfill it." Yes, so he took it and fulfilled it." Is this permissible or not permissible? I am asking you?
The questioner : I do not know.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : I do not assert.
The Shaykh : No, I assert that it is permissible, if Allah wills, because it is a right of the wife, and if it is for the wife, she is free.
And we hear the adhan now, and until another meeting, if Allah wills, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his Companions.
And we apologize to the brothers who did not get their turn, and we promise them that if we remember and they come early in the next session, they will be given priority over others.
So the wife's wali remained silent, and the husband's father spoke and said: "The amount of so much in gold or in currency." So after a period of time, is it permissible, O Shaykh, by mutual agreement between the two parties, to change the value of the mahr in the contract, or are they bound by what is in the contract?
The Shaykh : The mahr, may Allah grant you safety, is between the husband and the wife. So if they specify something in the contract and then mutually agree afterwards to more or less, the matter is up to them. That is to say, if the wife says: "I do not want anything but half of the mahr, that is sufficient for me," there is no harm. And I will mention to you a story that happened in our land a long time ago: "A man married a woman with a mahr of one riyal, and he gave the woman the mahr. And on that day, meaning the day of the entry into the previous night, he was sleeping with his wife when a man knocked on the door forcefully. So the husband went down and spoke to this man, and the speech between them intensified and the voices were raised. So the wife came down and listened to him, and behold, he was demanding from her husband a riyal. She returned, and then the gathering between the husband and the man dispersed. And she said: "What does this man who broke the door and whose voices were raised between you and him want?"
He said: "This man is asking me for a riyal from a month or something like that." She said: "This is the riyal that you gave me, so fulfill it." Yes, so he took it and fulfilled it." Is this permissible or not permissible? I am asking you?
The questioner : I do not know.
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : I do not assert.
The Shaykh : No, I assert that it is permissible, if Allah wills, because it is a right of the wife, and if it is for the wife, she is free.
And we hear the adhan now, and until another meeting, if Allah wills, and praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon his family and all his Companions.
And we apologize to the brothers who did not get their turn, and we promise them that if we remember and they come early in the next session, they will be given priority over others.