He—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—was asked:

A man proposed to a woman, and they agreed to the marriage without concluding a marriage contract. He gave her father something for that purpose, but she died before the contract was concluded. Is he entitled to recover what he gave?

He replied:

If they fulfilled what they had agreed to and did not prevent him from marrying her before she died, they owe him nothing, and he is not entitled to recover what he gave them. Likewise, had he married her, she would have been entitled to the full dower. This is because he gave them that only so that they would enable him to marry her, and they did so. That was all they could possibly do.

He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A woman married, but it then emerged that she already had a husband, so the judge separated her from the second man. Is she entitled to a dower? If so, is it the stipulated dower or a dower comparable to that of women like her?

He replied:

If she knew that she was married and did not believe that her husband had either died or divorced her, then she has willingly committed adultery and is not entitled to any dower. If, however, she believed that he had died or divorced her, this constitutes intercourse under a mistaken belief of lawfulness within an invalid marriage, and she is entitled to a dower. The apparent position of the schools of Ahmad and Mālik is that she is entitled to the stipulated dower. Another opinion reported from Ahmad agrees with al-Shāfiʿī’s position: she is entitled to a dower comparable to that of women like her. Allah knows best.