Is it permissible to contract a marriage of exchange with a mahr?

Question:
This questioner asks: Is it permissible to contract a marriage of exchange with a mahr, where each of them pays forty thousand, on the condition of mutual consent between them?

Answer:
A marriage of exchange is not permissible; it is shighar. Even if they pay a mahr, and even if they agree on it, as long as each one conditions the marriage on the other woman—“Marry me to your daughter, and I will marry you to my daughter”—this is not permissible. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade this. Shighar is when one says: “Marry me to your daughter, and I will marry you to my daughter,” or: “Marry me to your sister, and I will marry you to my sister.” This is shighar. Its defects are many, and its evil is great. It is a means to coercing women and wronging women, and a means to much dispute between the two families. Whenever one side becomes angry, the other becomes angry, and whenever something happens between this man and his wife, something happens between the other woman and her husband as well. The result is that it is an abomination and a defective marriage that is not permissible.