Woman Between Islam and Western Society
9. Dowry
~ 438 ~
reasons, are better suited to work outside the home.
These physical and mental differences between men
and women are, in practice, what underlay Islam’s
division of familial responsibilities into internal and
external spheres, with the woman dealing
exclusively with the home and family and the man
providing the funds.
MAHR MU‘AJJAL
At the time of the marriage, the groom hands over
to the bride a sum of money called
mahr
(dower)
which is a token of his willing acceptance of the
responsibility of bearing all necessary expenses of
his wife. This is the original meaning of
mahr,
although this custom has come to have different
connotations in modern times.
There are two ways of presenting
mahr
to the bride.
One is to hand it over at the time of the marriage, in
which case it is known as
mahr mu’ajjal,
or promptly
given dower. (The word
mu’ajjal
is derived from
‘ajilah,
meaning “without delay.”) During the time
of the Prophet and his Companions,
mahr mu’ajjal
was the accepted practice and the amount fixed was
generally quite minimal. The giving of
mahr
by ‘Ali
