It is recommended to keep it light and specify it in the contract

The Shaykh : Is it better to make it large or the opposite? The author said "It is recommended to keep it light", meaning it is recommended that it be light. So how much do you give as the bridal gift if you want to get married? If we say it is recommended to keep it light, how much is given? No one would keep asking, "How much do you want to give us?" It is according to custom. What is the custom? You are trying to avoid keeping it light. Say, "The bridal gift, if Allah wills, will be ten riyals. Allah is Able to do all things." That means, in the past, a woman would get married for one dirham. And before our time, perhaps ten years ago, a woman got married to a man and he gave her one riyal as her bridal gift. While he was with her, meaning he was sleeping during the midday nap, a man knocked on the door and knocked hard, disturbing them with his knocking. He said, "Change this work; he is not going to stop knocking on the door." So he went down to the door. When he went down, he raised his voice with the man. The husband’s voice rose with the man’s. She came down to listen, and the man who was knocking on the door was asking the husband for one riyal. The problem was resolved by giving him the riyal that he had paid her. She gave him the riyal that he had paid her, and the problem was resolved. So look at the state of people in the beginning; how her soul was content to get married for one riyal and to pay back to this man the riyal that he had given her. So I say to the brother, give me the bridal gift, keep it light, and try, try to get rid of it. And finally, we return to custom. I say, in any case, it is recommended to keep it light, making it as light as possible, even if it is one dirham. Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said , and in the hadith . And there is no doubt that keeping the bridal gift light has many benefits, among which is conforming to the Sunnah, and among which is making things easy, making this path easy, which is the path of the Prophets and Messengers, as the Exalted said . And among them is that if problems occur between the husband and wife, it makes it easier for him to separate from her because he has not lost much on her. But if he lost on her everything he had in his possession of dirhams and also borrowed from others, it would be difficult for him to release her, is it not so? Good. And among them is that if he wanted to divorce her at her request for compensation with what he gave her, it would be easy for him to give that to her because he did not give her much. But if he asked, "O son of 'Abdullah," if he asked for compensation and gave it to her, and it was a lot, that would be hard for her and her family, as is the reality. And among the benefits of keeping the bridal gift light is that it is greater in blessing, due to the hadith . It is also recommended to specify it in the contract, meaning that the bridal gift is named in the contract, and he says, "I have married you to my daughter for a bridal gift of such and such amount." Why? So that there is no dispute if separation occurs, if separation occurs before consummation or after consummation, and the wife claims that the bridal gift was ten thousand, and the husband says, "No, it was five thousand." A dispute arises from that. So if it is named, this dispute is removed. Good. If he is vague and says, "I have married you to my daughter for what I paid you of the bridal gift," is the objective achieved or not? No, it is not achieved in its entirety, but it is lighter than if he remained silent about it. But the objective is not achieved in its completeness because if he says "for what I paid you," well, what was paid? They may differ later regarding its type or its quality. Good. It is recommended to specify it in the contract.