Furthermore, the permissibility of concluding a marriage contract without specifying a dowry is established by the Book, in the words of the Most High:
“There is no blame upon you if you divorce women before you have touched them or specified a dowry for them.”
It is also established by the Sunnah, in the hadith of Birwaʿ bint Wāshiq, and by scholarly consensus. If the marriage is consummated, she is entitled, by their consensus, to the dowry customary for a woman of her standing. The same applies if her husband dies, according to the hadith jurists and the Kufan scholars who follow the hadith of Birwaʿ bint Wāshiq. This is also one of al-Shāfiʿī’s two positions. It is well known that such a customary dowry is approximate rather than precisely fixed. Had precise specification been required for the dowry, marriage without such specification would not have been permissible.
Ahmad also narrated in al-Musnad from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, may Allah be pleased with him:
“The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade hiring a worker until his wage had been made clear to him, as well as sales concluded by touch, sham bidding, and sales concluded by casting a stone.”
Thus, the Sharia permits marriage before the dowry is specified, whereas hiring is permissible only when the wage is made clear. This establishes a distinction between the two.
The reason is that the subject matter of the marriage contract—the benefits of marital intimacy—is not precisely delimited; rather, it is governed by custom. The same therefore applies to the corresponding consideration, because the dowry is not the principal object of the contract but an ancillary gift. It thus resembles fruit included with a tree in a sale before the fruit begins to ripen.
Likewise, when the delegation of Hawāzin came to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he gave them the choice between the captives and the property. They chose the captives, and he told them:
“I shall rise and address the people. Then say, ‘We seek the intercession of the Messenger of Allah