"And if either of them dies before consummation and the determination of the mahr, the other inherits from him, and she is entitled to the mahr of her peers."

The Shaykh : He said "And if either of them dies", meaning the two spouses, "before consummation", meaning before sexual intercourse, "and the determination of the mahr", meaning the estimation of the mahr. The pronoun refers to the two spouses. Consummation means sexual intercourse, and determination of the mahr means estimating the mahr, based on the saying of Allah the Exalted: And He has made it a duty. "And if either of them dies before consummation and the determination of the mahr, the other inherits from him, and she is entitled to the mahr of her peers." The scenario of this issue is that a man contracted marriage with a woman, did not specify a mahr for her, did not consummate the marriage, and did not have seclusion with her, and then he died. What is the ruling? He says that four matters are connected to this. First, she is entitled to the mahr of her peers, the mahr of the like, because since it was not specified, she is entitled to the mahr of her peers. Second, she inherits from him. Third, she must observe the waiting period. Is that correct? Good. We said she is entitled to the mahr of the like, secondly she inherits from her husband, and thirdly she must observe the waiting period. Three rulings follow from this, three rulings, even though he did not consummate the marriage and did not have seclusion with her, but only contracted marriage with her. However, Allah decreed that he died, either suddenly, by accident, or otherwise. So does she inherit from him or not? And she takes the mahr before the inheritance, before she inherits from him. Who takes the mahr from the estate? She takes the mahr from the estate, and she must observe the waiting period of death. What is the evidence for this? We say that the evidence for the waiting period of death is the saying of Allah the Exalted: And this woman is a wife, and nothing else. A wife? Yes, a wife. So she must observe the waiting period. Good. What is the evidence that she is entitled to inheritance? The evidence is the saying of Allah the Exalted: For them, meaning for their wives. And this is a wife, so she is entitled to the mahr. She is entitled to the inheritance. The evidence that she is entitled to the mahr, even though he did not consummate the marriage and did not have seclusion with her, is that this is the judgment of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). For Ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this issue, and he said: "She must observe the waiting period, she is entitled to inheritance, and she is entitled to the mahr of her peers." Then a man stood up and said: "The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) judged similarly in the case of a woman from among us." It is said that this is its evidence: the Sunnah, the judgment of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is the Sunnah. He said, may Allah have mercy on him: "And if either of them dies before consummation and the determination of the mahr, the other inherits from him, and she is entitled to the mahr of her peers." And what remains of the three rulings we mentioned? The waiting period. The waiting period will come, if Allah wills, in the book on waiting periods.