Dower ( Haq-Mehar)

I am going to tell you about “dower”.Dower rights of women are mandatory in any Muslim marriage. In Arabic language it is called mahr, mehr or meher (In Pakistan people used to call it Haq Mehar) . It is a gift which becomes payable to wife immediately after marriage but before sexual intercourse. It is not essentially to be money but can be any valuable thing like property, ornaments or anything else which is agreed between the Muslim marriage partners. It is in fact a financial gain which the wife receives as a respect by virtue of the marriage contract itself. It is not sale price for bride. But it is part of the Muslim marriage contract where wife and husband agree to live together, bear children and develop a family unit.

However, it is not a ‘bride price’ in any sense. The main difference between a dower and bride price is that former is paid to the wife while the later is paid to the parents. You can understand that the wife is not selling anything to the husband. It is just a token of respect and a part of financial rights of the women in Islam.

It is generally supposed that the main object of dower in Muslim marriage is to offer protection to the wife against the arbitrary powers of the husband in exercising the right of divorce. However, it was neither goal of the dower nor intended by Quran. When procedure of Quran for divorce is followed the arbitrary powers assumed by husband in exercising the right of divorce become minimal. On the other hand the dower rights are always obligatory.

A dower may be specified or proper. However, dower rights become payable on divorce or death of husband if not paid immediately after marriage. No Muslim is allowed to take back the dower amount whether specified or proper in any condition.

The amount of dower is ordinarily fixed by a contract on the marriage certificate. However, there is no limit either to the maximum or the minimum of the amount of dower. It should be fixed depending upon circumstances of husband and wife, to stop husband in exercising the right of device arbitrarily, the position of the paternal family of the woman, intellectual attainments of the woman, personal qualifications and attractions of the woman, wealth of husband, conditions of the society and so on.

This is the reality, purpose, implementation and history of dower. But the real picture of dower is opposite to it. In Pakistan sensible people took it as it is. They do not misunderstand it and use it as it is said by Allah and our Prophet. But many people use dower as “bride price”. This practice mostly done by illiterate people belongs to very backward areas. As they people are illiterate and also they do not have money. So they sell their daughters to very rich people and after that they do no even go to see her. Now their daughter became someone else (her husband’s) property. They have no concern with her daughter’s life.

On the other hand greedy people do this practice to remove their greed. They demand a lot of thins like money, property, ornaments in dower and portion of this keep with himself and rest of give to their daughter. They people said that by demanding such a huge dower we are securing our daughter. But question is how they are securing? Or is money securing the future of a person? Let me explain you. They people thinks that if we demand huge dower and husband is not in position to give that huge dower …and in case in future he thinks to divorce his wife then he can not, just because that he can not pay off dower amount n if he divorced his wife he has to pay dower at any cost if he will not then wife can go to court and can claim for it. A little bit stupid thinking. is not it…???

Now let me tell you some true stories about this practice. A family did her daughter marriage at very good family and demand huge dower as security of her daughter life. Basically they are greedy. A groom accepts their all terms and agrees to pay that huge amount of dower. As Nikah done he divorce his wife at the spot and pay off all amount of dower and go back to his home. What is the moral of this story? First of all greed is curse. Secondly, parents are securing her daughter but even money can not secure her life. Thirdly, They got insulted and ashamed in front of all people. Here in Pakistan divorced girl is less accepted. Divorce is taken as a symbol of dishonor. Thirdly, people are doing business marriages. Parents are searching for rich families who can able to give huge amount as dower and in this way they secure their and theirs daughter’s future anyway. On the other hand, parents of boy try to find rich families who can give huge dowry ( in Urdu is called jahaiz). Huge amount of dower is a status symbol. Very less people accurately use and implement this term as Islam described.

Mostly, in Pakistan cash or property e.g.; house or land gives in dower whereas ornaments are given as a first gift from groom to bride. Dower is a right of women and groom has to pay it at any cost. As I mentioned before that he has to pay it before sexual relationship. But in any case he can not give it that time then it is his liability and he has to pay it in his life. A very stupid practice here in Pakistan regarding dower is…when after Nikah Groom goes to his bride (on first night) mostly males asks their wives to forgive or remove the liability of dower from them. Paki girls are so emotional and stupid they forgive that dower amount.

I hope this knowledge is new for many of you. I am waiting for your comments, questions and suggestions.

Take Care

Sehrish

 

 

Comments:

Comment 1:Your work is superb...By Fatima Ahmed

Comment 2:well i must say that your work is amazing :) since im new to PAKISTAN; i'm having little problems in understanding the culture here; so please write more articles, they are really helpful...By Sana Saeed

Comment 3: i really wanted to appreciate you and talk to you ...By Sana Saeed
 

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