her family a sum of money that entices them; thus the daughters of the wealthy secure marriage while the daughters of the poor remain without husbands. The perils and corrupt consequences of this are plain to see. Moreover, marriage then comes to be driven by financial aims and greedy ambitions rather than by choosing the most suitable girl and the most suitable young man. One need only look at the contemporary Western world: a girl who is not well-off must spend the spring of her youth working and earning so that she can accumulate the amount that might persuade men to marry her. Islam, by contrast, has honored woman when it required the man who wishes to marry her to present her with a mahr by which she may attend to her affairs and prepare herself. In this way the door is opened for poor women to marry, for a small bridal-gift suffices them, and men of limited means find it easier to wed them. Allah is the Guardian of success.