Ideal dowry in Islam
The limit of giving dowries in Islam.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA – Dowry or commonly known as dowry is an amount of money or goods given by a husband to his wife. Religion obliges the giving of a dowry as a symbol that the husband gives appreciation to his wife, so what is the ideal dowry in Islam?
Muhammad Bagir in the book Muamalah According to the Koran, Sunnah, and the Ulama explained, dowry is the absolute right of the wife herself. No one but himself has the right to use it for any purpose. Unless done with the wife’s permission to use it for certain purposes.
The size of the dowry in Islam is not determined by religion. Given that people differ in terms of wealth and poverty, in addition to differences in customs of each nation and community group.
Then it is allowed for each prospective husband to determine the amount of dowry that is considered reasonable, based on the agreement between the two families and according to the financial capacity and habits of each place. Most importantly in this case, it is explained that the dowry must be something that can be taken advantage of.
Either in the form of money (although in small amounts), or a ring (although in simple form) or a few kilograms of rice or other food. Or even a dowry may be fulfilled by teaching the Koran and so on, as long as it is mutually agreed upon between the two parties.
Once upon a time the Messenger of Allah was approached by a woman who asked the Prophet to marry her. The Prophet was silent in response to the woman’s request. Then a man said: “O Messenger of Allah, if you do not wish to marry her, then marry her to me,”.
Then the Prophet also asked the man whether he had a dowry of marriage or not. The man said: “I have nothing but my sarong,”. The Prophet then replied: “If you give your sarong as a dowry, you do not have anything for you to wear. Look for something else, even if a ring of iron, “.
The man then left for a while and came back again saying: “I do not get anything else, O Messenger of Allah,”. Rasulullah also asked: “Have you memorized something from the Koran (to be taught to him)? Then I will marry you to this woman with a dowry in the form of what you have memorized from the Koran, “. In several other hadith narrations, the editorial is as follows: “Teach him some of the Koran,”.
The above hadith shows that the dowry in a marriage does not have to be in the form of money or things. But maybe something that has benefits such as knowledge of the Koran. The most important thing in this case is the consent of the future wife, regardless of how little or the amount of the dowry. This is the view of the Syafii school of thought.
As for the view according to the Hanafi school of thought, the dowry should not be less than 10 dirhams. Meanwhile, scholars from the Maliki school of thought were of the opinion that the minimum dowry was three dirhams. However, in essence, there is no strong argument that can be used as the basis for such a determination either from the Koran or the hadith of the Prophet SAW.
Likewise, there is no maximum limit for the number of dowries. Sayyidina Umar once gave a speech and forbade the giving of dowries of more than 400 dirhams. But when she finished her speech, a Quraish woman denied it.
The woman said: “Didn’t you (Sayyidina Umar) hear the word of Allah? (Namely) if you want to divorce your wife and replace her with another, while you have given her wealth (dowry) as much as one qinthar (a lot of treasure), then don’t take back from her anything at all, “.