and a marriage in which provision for the bridal gift remains in place, as did the followers of Abū Hanīfah and al-Shāfiʿī and most later followers of Ahmad. Abū Hanīfah then consistently extended his analogy, holding shighār (exchange marriage) to be valid on the grounds that it does not necessarily leave the marriage devoid of a bridal gift.

Al-Shāfiʿī and those followers of Ahmad who agreed with him, however, strained to distinguish shighār from other marriages, arguing that it involves sharing in the right to marital intimacy, making the contract conditional, or other considerations discussed at length elsewhere. It was also explained there that none of these distinctions affects the ruling. The correct position is that of the scholars of Medina, Mālik and others. It is also Ahmad’s explicit position in most of his answers, and that of the great majority of his early followers: what invalidates it is the stipulation that the marriage be devoid of a bridal gift. A marriage is not binding when it stipulates either the absence of a bridal gift or an invalid bridal gift, for Allah has made the bridal gift obligatory in marriage. Marriage without a bridal gift is therefore not lawful for anyone other than the Messenger.

Whoever marries on condition that no bridal gift is due has failed to observe what Allah has permitted. Allah has permitted the marriage contract only for someone who seeks marriage through his wealth, seeking chastity rather than fornication, as the Most High says:

“Lawful to you are all beyond these, provided that you seek them with your wealth in marriage, not in fornication.”

Thus, whoever seeks marriage without a bridal gift has not done what Allah has made lawful. This differs from someone who acknowledges that a bridal gift is indispensable but has not fixed its amount, as the Most High says:

“There is no blame upon you if you divorce women before you have touched them or fixed a bridal gift for them.”

This is a marriage with the customary bridal gift: the bridal gift appropriate to a woman of comparable standing.