Question (Q-103)
What is the minimum amount of mahr (dowry)? What is the method of working this out? How much is Mahr Fāṭimiy (the dowry that was given to Sayyidah Fāṭimah, Allah be pleased with her)? How can we find this out?
Answer:
The minimum amount of mahr (dowry) is ten dirham silver which according to the unit of measurement that is customary in the subcontinent during our times, amounts to two tolas and seven mashas. This is equivalent to 30.618 grams. One tola is equivalent to 11.66 grams. Therefore the value of 30.618 grams in one’s own currency can be worked out to work out the minimum amount of mahr in one’s currency.
Mahr Fāṭimiy which was presented by Sayyidunā ʿAlī (Allah be pleased with him) was four hundred mithqal silver according to the rājiḥ taḥqīq (preferred research) which is equivalent to 150 tola. This is because one mithqāl is 4 masha. Thus Mahr Fāṭimiy is 1749 grams of silver. This is because 11.66 × 150 = 1749.
It is stated in Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyyah, Volume 1, Page 283,
أقل المهر عشرة دراهم مضروبة أو غير مضروبة
“The minimum amount of mahr (dowry) is ten Dirham whether that is stamped or not stamped.”
It is stated in Fatāwā Fayḍ Al-Rasūl, Volume 1, Page 712, “The minimum amount of mahr (dowry) is ten dirham. It is stated in a Blessed Ḥadīth,
لا مهر أقل من عشرة دراهم
“There is no mahr (dowry) less than ten dirham.”
It is stated in Fatāwā ʿĀlamgīrī (also known as Al-Fatāwā Al-Hindiyyah), Volume 1, Page 283 (published in Egypt),
أقل المهر عشرة دراهم
“The minimum amount of mahr is ten dirham.”
Ten dirham is equivalent to two tola, seven and a half masha. Therefore, at the time of the Nikāḥ, the market value of this amount of silver is the minimum amount of mahr (dowry). Mahr (dowry) cannot be less than that. وهو سبحانه و تعالى أعلم Allah, the Glorified and Exalted knows best.”
It is stated in Al-Fatāwā Al-Riḍawiyyah, Volume 12, Page 136,
“The blessed mahr (dowry) of Sayyidah Batūl Al-Zahrā رضي الله تعالى عنها was four hundred mithqāl silver based on what is mentioned in Al-Mirqāh and there is firmness in relation to it in Rawḍah Al-Aḥbāb and Al-Mawāhib.”
It is furthermore stated in Al-Fatāwā Al-Riḍawiyyah, Volume 12, Page 155,
“The summary is that the actual blessed mahr (dowry) upon which the sacred contract (of marriage) took place was four hundred mithqāl silver. For this reason the Scholars of Siyar (Prophetic Biographies) mentioned this with certainty.”
It is stated in the Fatwā of Dār al-Iftā’ Ahl-e-Sunnat issued on 30 Muḥarram Al-Ḥarām 1443 AH, “Mahr Fāṭimiy is equivalent to 150 tola silver.”
It is stated in Mirqāh Al-Mafātīḥ,
ثم ذكر السيد الجمال الدين المحدث في روضة الأحباب: إن صداق فاطمة – رضي الله عنها – كان أربعمائة مثقال فضة، وكذا ذكره
صاحب المواهب
“Then Al-Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn, the Scholar of Al-Ḥadīth, mentioned in Rawḍah Al-Aḥbāb that the dowry of Sayyidah Fāṭimah (Allah be pleased with her) was four hundred mithqāl silver. This is what the author of Al-Mawāhib mentioned.”
والله سبحانه وتعالى أعلم وعلمه أتم وأحكم
Allah, Glorified is He and Exalted, knows best and His Knowledge is Most Complete and Sublime
Written by: Shaykh Omar Khan (May Allah preserve him)
Verified by: Mufti Shamsulhuda Khan (May Allah preserve him)
