she is entitled to a parting gift, as expressly stated in the Quran. If her husband dies, there are two opinions concerning her case.

This is the case of Birwa‘ bint Wāshiq, concerning which Ibn Mas‘ūd was consulted over the course of a month. He then said:

“I shall give my own judgment concerning her. If it is correct, it is from Allah; if it is mistaken, it is from me and from Satan, and Allah and His Messenger are innocent of it. She is entitled to the dowry customary among women of her standing, neither less nor more. She must observe the waiting period and is entitled to inherit.”

Men from Ashja‘ then stood up and said: “We testify that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, ruled concerning Birwa‘ bint Wāshiq just as you have ruled concerning this woman.”

‘Alqamah said: “I never saw ‘Abd Allāh rejoice at anything as much as he rejoiced at that.”

The ruling given by Ibn Mas‘ūd is the position of the jurists of Kufa, such as Abū Hanīfah and others, and of the hadith jurists, such as Ahmad and others. It is also one of al-Shāfi‘ī’s two opinions. His other opinion, which is also Mālik’s position, is that she is not entitled to a dowry. This is also reported from ‘Alī, Zayd, and other Companions.

They also differed over whether a marriage is valid when it is stipulated that there shall be no dowry. There are two opinions within the school of Ahmad and elsewhere. The first is that the marriage is invalid, as Mālik held. The second is that it is valid and that a dowry customary for women of her standing is due, as Abū Hanīfah and al-Shāfi‘ī held.

Those who hold the first opinion say that this is nikāh al-shighār (reciprocal marriage), which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, declared invalid, because the dowry is excluded and marital access to one woman is made the dowry for marital access to the other. This is the reasoning Ahmad ibn Hanbal gives in several places in his statements, and it is also the reasoning of most of his early followers.

Among those who hold the other opinion, some regard reciprocal marriage as valid, such as Abū Hanīfah. His position is more consistent with this principle, but it contradicts the explicit text and the reports from the Companions, for they declared reciprocal marriage invalid. Others among them regard it as invalid