Delegation with respect to the dowry may also take the form of contracting the marriage on whatever amount one of the two spouses—or even a third party—later decides. The contract remains sound in this situation, and the wife is then entitled to the equivalent dowry. The judge is the one who determines that amount, basing it on the dowries customarily given to the women of her family—her mother, her maternal aunt, her paternal aunt, and the like. He first considers those closest to her in kinship, then in wealth, beauty, intelligence, refinement, age, and whether they were virgins or previously married. If she has no relatives, the comparison is made with women of similar standing in her town.

If he divorces her before consummation, she is to be granted a parting gift proportionate to his financial state, for Allah says, “There is no blame on you if you divorce women before you have touched them or fixed a bridal gift for them; but provide for them—the affluent according to his capacity and the poor according to his capacity—an honorable provision, a duty upon those who do good” (2:236). The imperative here indicates obligation, and fulfilling an obligation is itself an act of excellence.

Should the separation be caused by the death of either spouse prior to consummation, the wife is entitled to the equivalent dowry, and she and the deceased’s heirs inherit from one another. The omission of naming the dowry does not invalidate the marriage, as confirmed by the hadith of Ibn Masʿūd cited above.

Once consummation or even seclusion has taken place, the equivalent dowry becomes firmly due, in keeping with the report recorded by Aḥmad and others from the rulings of the Rightly Guided Caliphs: “Whoever shuts a door or draws a curtain has made the dowry obligatory.”

Conversely, if the separation originates from her side before consummation, she is entitled to nothing—for instance, if she apostatizes or annuls the marriage because a defect is discovered in the husband.