His statement, “separation,” means the spouses’ parting through divorce, death, or annulment. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in Badāʾiʿ al-Fawāʾid that marriage has twenty forms of separation. What he meant was the causes of separation; otherwise, separation itself is limited to death, divorce, and annulment, though its causes reach twenty.

Thus, if he says: “The bridal gift is ten thousand, five thousand of it payable immediately and five thousand at one thousand each year,” this is valid. Or if he says: “The five thousand falls due at the end of the year.” But if he does not specify a term—for example, he says: “The bridal gift is ten thousand riyals, five thousand of it payable immediately and five thousand deferred”—then the deferment is valid, and the bridal gift remains deferred until separation occurs, whether initiated by him or by her.

If someone were to ask: How can this term be valid when it is unknown when it will occur? No one knows when the separation will take place. Yet you say that if the price of an item sold is deferred to an unknown term, this is invalid. What, then, is the difference?

The difference is that a sale is intended as a financial exchange, and a financial exchange must be defined, lest uncertainty arise and lead to dispute, enmity, and rancour. Marriage, however, is not primarily intended for wealth; rather, its primary purpose is companionship and marital enjoyment. For this reason, there is greater latitude in it.

Does a deferred bridal gift exist in people’s actual practice?

The answer is: In our country, it exists only very rarely. But in other lands, we hear that it does exist. Thus, if it exists, we say: if the two parties specify a term, it is according to the term they specify; and if they do not specify a term, it falls due upon separation.