Al-Miṣbāḥ records: the word shāh (sheep) belongs to the genus ghanam and may refer to a male or a female animal; its plurals are shāʾ and shiyāh, and its diminutive form is shuyayhah.
Points gleaned from the ḥadith
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It is disliked for men to perfume themselves with saffron or with any fragrance whose color remains visible.
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The ruler or leader should keep an eye on his companions, enquiring after the matters that concern him regarding them.
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It is recommended to keep the mahr light. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf—despite his wealth—gave his wife nothing more than the weight of five gold dinars.
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It is sunnah to supplicate for the newly-married couple with the words: “May Allah bless you, shower blessings upon you, and unite you both in goodness.”
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A wedding banquet (walīmah) is prescribed, and for one who is well-off it should not be less than a single sheep. It is even better to offer more. Providing the banquet is the groom’s responsibility; there is no textual basis for it to be supplied by the bride’s family, save what might be inferred from broad, general evidence.
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Those invited should include the relatives of both spouses, the neighbors, the poor, and people of virtue, so that affection may grow and blessing descend. Extravagance and ostentation are to be avoided.
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Naming the mahr in the marriage contract is recommended. If some families customarily omit it, there is no harm. As for contracting a marriage on a token mahr of one riyal merely to avoid specifying the true amount, this practice is neither reported from the Prophet ﷺ nor from any of his Companions. Permissible customs pose no problem in matters outside the domain of legal rulings, but in matters governed by sacred law people are bound by the prescriptions of the Sharīʿah.
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Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī said: Congratulations exchanged on various occasions rest upon a great and beneficial principle, namely that the default ruling for all customary statements and actions is permissibility. Nothing is deemed unlawful or disliked unless the Law-giver has prohibited it, or unless it entails