Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
9. Dowry
~ 201 ~
is better than that of having a servant.”
165
In spite of these events having been faithfully
recorded, there are still many people who seek to
justify the giving of huge dowries by citing the
example of the Prophet’s gifts to Fatimah. But,
would anyone of this number advise a daughter
with blistered hands to forget about having a
servant and praise God instead? Would anyone of
them, on hearing her bewail her lot because of
difficulties with in-laws, advise her simply to turn
to God? By any standard of consistency, that is
exactly what they ought to do.
165. Al-Haythami,
Majma’ az-Zawa’id wa Manba’ al-
Fawa’id, Kitab al-Adkhar,
10/122
If any misguided scoffer were to allege that Islam
was an imperfect religion in that it failed to lay
down guidelines for every eventuality in our lives,
all Muslims would be up in arms against him. But,
in practice, Muslims themselves make the same
assertion, if tacitly, whenever they accept the ways
of other religions as being more practicable than
those of Islam.
