His statement: “She may withhold herself until she receives her immediate dower,” meaning that she may refuse to surrender herself to him until she receives her immediate—that is, non-deferred—dower.

For example, a man marries a woman with a dower of ten thousand riyals. He then seeks to consummate the marriage, but she says, “There will be no consummation until you hand over the dower.” She has the right to do so, and her maintenance does not lapse, because the impediment is from the husband’s side: had he wished, he could have given her the dower and consummated the marriage.

His statement: “immediate.” Thus, if the dower is deferred and its due date has not yet arrived, she may not withhold herself. This is evident, because she entered the marriage on the understanding that this dower was deferred.

Deferring the dower is permissible, because people are entitled to dispose of all rights that belong to them, so long as nothing prohibits it. This is established by the authentic hadith, which many leading scholars deemed authentic: “Muslims are bound by their conditions, except a condition that makes lawful what is unlawful or makes unlawful what is lawful.” (1)

His statement: “If she willingly surrenders herself, then later wishes to withhold herself, she no longer has that right,” because her surrendering herself constitutes a waiver of her right. Once that is the case, she cannot return and demand that right.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that there is no difference whether or not he deceives her in this matter. He may deceive her by saying, “I will bring the dower—if Allah wills—after the afternoon prayer.” Some women may be taken in by this and trust his promise, so she allows him to