Dalīl al-Ṭālib - Marʿi al-Karmi - (245)

The Book of the Bridal Dower

It is recommended that the dower be expressly named in the marriage contract.

Any item that possesses the slightest monetary worth1 may serve as the dower.

If no dower is stipulated, or an invalid dower is named, the contract itself is still sound and the woman is entitled to the customary dower of her peers.

Should he make her dower the teaching of some portion of the Qur’an, the stipulation is invalid; but the teaching of a specific text of jurisprudence, hadith, permissible poetry, or a particular craft is valid.

For the dower to be valid, its nature must be known. Thus, if he offers her “a house,” “an animal,” “a garment” with no further specification, or the return of “her slave wherever he may be,” or her service “for whatever period she wishes,” or the yield of his tree, or the unborn offspring of his female slave or of his animal, the stipulation is invalid.

A slight degree of uncertainty, however, is overlooked. Hence, if he gives her “one slave from among his slaves,” “one animal from among his animals,” or “one shirt from among his shirts,” the stipulation is valid, and she receives one of them by drawing lots.

If he fixes as her dower the emancipation of his own slave2 the stipulation is valid, whereas making the divorce of his wife the dower is not.

If he designates wine, a pig, or misappropriated property that both parties know to be stolen as the dower, it is not

(1) Al-Iqna, 3/378, states: “The dowry must consist of something whose half is ordinarily treated as property and for which compensation is customarily paid; what is required is half of its monetary value, not half of the very object itself, for the husband may stipulate an indivisible item such as a slave.” (2) Al-Insaf, 8/269, states: “If he designates his own female slave as the dowry, the marriage is valid without any scholarly dissent.”

كتاب الصداق مدخل ... كتاب الصداق تسن تسميته في العقد. ويصح بأقل متمول١. فإن لم يسم أو سمى فاسدا صح العقد ووجب مهر المثل. وإن أصدقها تعليم شيء من القرآن لم يصح وتعليم معين من فقه أو حديث أو شعر مباح أو صنعة صح. ويشترط علم الصداق: فلو أصدقها دارا أو دابة أو ثوبا مطلقا أو رد عبدها أين كان أو خدمتها مدة فيما شاءت أو ما يثمر شجره أو حمل أمته أو دابته لم يصح. ولا يضر جهل يسير فلو أصدقها عبدا من عبيده أو دابة من دوابه أو قميصا من قمصانه صح ولها أحدهم بقرعة. وإن أصدقها عتق قنه٢ صح لا طلاق زوجته. وإن أصدقها خمرا أو خنزيرا أو مالا مغصوبا يعلمانه لم

١ قال في الإقناع "٣/٣٧٨": "ويجب أن يكون له نصف يتمول عادة ويبذل العوض في مثله عرفا. والمراد: نصف القيمة لا نصف عين الصداق فإنه قد يصدقها ما لا ينقسم كعبد". ٢ قال في الإنصاف "٨/٢٦٩": "لو أصدقها أمته صح بلا نزاع".