Don’t Go To Extremes With Regards To Dowries

TheAuthenticBase

Assalaamu 'alaykum!
Umar Ibn Al-Khattaab said:

“Do not go to extremes with regards to the dowries of women, for if that were a sign of honour and dignity in this world or a sign of piety before Allaah, then Muhammad (saw) would have done that before you. But he did not give any of his wives, and none of his daughters were given, more than 12 uqiyah, and uqiyah are 40 dirhams (1).”

Footnotes:

(1) Approx $261.

https://themarriagebase.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/dont-go-to-extremes-with-regards-to-dowries/
 

Abu Juwairiya

Junior Member
Unfortunately, in Saudi Arabia, the costs of marriage are becoming more and more expensive year by year and it is not the sisters and their families that have to pay handsomely for everything, but the brothers. In some societies within Saudi Arabia the tribes set the price for the dowries [sometimes it is fixed], in other instances it is decided by the family [not just the immediate family by the way, but many many relatives including distant ones].

Dowry costs can range from as little as 1 SR (Saudi Riyal) among the more religious among them to as much as 200, 000, and I am not referring to rich Saudis either, but very ordinary ones. This has led to an increasing number of men unable to marry because of cost alone and saving up well into their late twenties and early thirties before the funds are available. Even fathers willing to pay the bridal price for their sons have conditions the potential grooms spend a good part of their youth trying to return the fees to the parents. Despite the Saudi scholars demanding an end to the practice, which is cultural and not Islamic, the tradition remains very much in place and moves to curtail it have not met with success.
 
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