beauty, intelligence, refinement, age, and whether she is a virgin or previously married. This is the sense of Ibn Masʿūd’s statement—treated as legally traceable to the Prophet—when he said, “She is entitled to the same bridal due as the women of her family: neither less nor more.”
5. Shaykh al-Islām said: The scholars unanimously agree that if a man marries a woman without fixing a dowry, the marriage is valid. Should he consummate the marriage, she then deserves a dowry equal to that of her peers; but if he divorces her before consummation, she has no dowry, only the discretionary gift (mutʿa) mandated by the Qur’an.
6. The ḥadith indicates that omitting the dowry from the contract, or before it, does not impair the validity of the marriage; the contract stands even when no amount is named.
7. It also shows that a bridal due must exist in marriage, and that failing to mention it does not turn the contract into a gratuitous transaction devoid of consideration.
8. Finally, it proves that the dowry is not the primary quid pro quo in marriage; otherwise, a marriage without an expressed dowry could never be valid.