Woman in Islamic Shari‘ah
9. Dowry
~ 206 ~
167. Ibn Karhir,
As-Sirah an-Nabawiyah
, 2/544.
168. Ahmad ibn Hanbal,
Masnad, Kitab al-’Ilm,
4/58.
MAHR MU’AIJAL
Another way of giving dower, according to the
shari’ah
is to hand it over, not on the occasion of the
marriage, but after a certain period of time, the
duration of which is fixed by the man. This has to
be settled at the time of the marriage if
mahr
is not
to be handed over immediately. This form of dower
is called
mahr mu’ajjal,
“a period of time.” This has
often been willfully misinterpreted as implying an
indefinite postponement of the giving of dower. But
this is quite erroneous, for a definite date has
always to be fixed for the discharging of this
responsibility.
Mahr mu’ajjal,
however, can take the form of some
service performed by the husband, one notable
example of which was the grazing of cattle by the
Prophet Moses. When Moses left Egypt for Madyan,
he married Safoora, the daughter of the Prophet
Shu’ayb. His
mahr mu’ajja!
was settled and paid off
by binding himself to grazing the cattle of his
