her clothes, cleans his sandals, makes his bed, sweeps the house, and cooks the food! The scholars said: This is not permissible, because it makes the master a servant: the husband is the woman’s master, but now she becomes his master, and this is a contradiction. As for a separate task, such as tending her fields, caring for her sheep, or the like, there is no harm in it.

This occurred in the story of the man of Midian with Moses, peace be upon him. The man of Midian offered Moses, peace be upon him, one of his two daughters in marriage, on condition that he work for him for eight years tending the sheep. Moses agreed that the contract would be for eight years; if he completed ten, that would be an additional favor from him. The contract was concluded on this basis.

However, this raises a difficulty: tending the sheep benefited the father, whereas we have said that the dower belongs to the woman. So how could her dower validly be given to someone else?

The answer is that it was in fact for her benefit, because she was the one who used to tend them. When Moses undertook the shepherding, she was relieved of it. Thus, although the dower outwardly benefited the father, it actually benefited the wife.

“If he gives her teaching the Quran as her dower, it is not valid; rather, teaching jurisprudence, etiquette, and known permissible poetry is valid, ………”

His statement, “If he gives her teaching the Quran as her dower, it is not valid,” is because the Quran is not property, and marital relations should not be made lawful by means of it. There is also evidence for this: when the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, married the man to the woman in exchange for what he knew of the Quran, he said, “It shall not serve as a dower for anyone after you.” (1) This explicitly states that it is not permissible for it to be a dower for anyone after him. This was mentioned in al-Rawd (2).