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Can one marry without Mehr?

Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

 

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

The 'mehr' can be as inexpensive as two sandles, or two handfuls of flour or dates, or even the declaration of the 'shahaadah'!  And the'walima' or marriage feast can be as simple as dates, yogurt, a cup of tea, etc. or as grand as a whole sheep!”

These are all traditional and ritualistic acts and has absolutely no basis in ones belief in the ONENESS OF GOD. One can marry without any obligations whatsoever as long as there are witnesses to their marriage, AS PER THE QURAN.

Hadiths cannot be relied upon and nothing but conjecture and guessworks.

 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

 

Answer:

 

Can one marry without Mehr?

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad(saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

 

Your Statement: These are all traditional and ritualistic acts and has absolutely no basis in ones belief in the ONENESS OF GOD. One can marry without any obligations whatsoever as long as there are witnesses to their marriage, AS PER THE QURAN.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verses 3-4:

3 If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess. That will be more suitable to prevent you from doing injustice.

4 And give the women (on marriage) their dower as a free gift; but if they of their own good pleasure remit any part of it to you take it and enjoy it with right good cheer.

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisaa verse 24: Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess. Thus hath Allah ordained (prohibitions) against you: except for these, all others are lawful provided ye seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property desiring chastity not lust. Seeing that ye derive benefit from them give them their dowers (at least) as prescribed; but if after a dower is prescribed ye agree mutually (to vary it) there is no blame on you and Allah is All-Knowing All-Wise.

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 236-237:

236 There is no blame on you if ye divorce women before consummation or the fixation of their dower; but bestow on them (a suitable gift), the wealthy according to his means and the poor according to his means; a gift of a reasonable amount is due from those who wish to do the right thing.

237 And if ye divorce them before consummation but after the fixation of a dower for them then the half of the dower (is due to them) unless they remit it. Or (the man's half) is remitted by him in whose hands is the marriage tie; and the remission (of the man's half) is the nearest to righteousness. And do not forget liberality between yourselves. For Allah sees well all that ye do.

 

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 60 Surah Mumtahana verse 10: O ye who believe! When there come to you believing women refugees examine (and test) them: Allah knows best as to their Faith: if ye ascertain that they are Believers then send them not back to the Unbelievers. They are not lawful (wives) for the Unbelievers nor are the (Unbelievers) lawful (husbands) for them. But pay the Unbelievers what they have spent (on their dower). And there will be no blame on you if ye marry them on payment of their dower to them. But hold not to the guardianship of unbelieving women: ask for what ye have spent on their dowers and let the (Unbelievers) ask for what they have spent (on the dowers of women who come over to you). Such is the command of Allah: He judges (with justice) between you: and Allah is Full of Knowledge and Wisdom.

 

The determination and payment of ‘mehr’ or dower by the groom to the bride is a clear command of Allah Subhanah to the believers in the Glorious Quran, and one of the obligatory conditions of marriage in Shariah.

 

Your Statement: These are all traditional and ritualistic acts and has absolutely no basis in ones belief in the ONENESS OF GOD. One can marry without any obligations whatsoever as long as there are witnesses to their marriage, AS PER THE QURAN.
Beloved brother, the ‘mehr’ or dower is a command of the All Knowing Lord from the Glorious Quran; not a traditional or ritualistic act. We humbly request you to present your evidence from the Quranyou’re your above statement that the ‘mehr’ in Islam has no basis in the deen of Islam.

 

Your Statement: Hadiths cannot be relied upon and nothing but conjecture and guessworks.

It is indeed unfortunate that some people have gone to the two extremes when dealing with the ‘ahaadiths’ of the Messenger of Allah (saws). One extreme declares belief in each and every hadith of the Prophet (saws), without confirming whether the hadith is authentic or not! The other extreme declares their complete opposition and rejection of any and all ahaadiths, regardless of whether they are fabricated or not!

 

The true muslims must take a balanced view or the ‘middle way’ when dealing with anything. Just because someone calls a statement or a deed a hadith, we are not to completely submit to it, nor completely reject it; but the right and correct mode of conduct would be to do a thorough investigation to determine whether the Messenger of Allah (saws) indeed did do or say the thing claimed by the ‘raavi’ or narrator.

 

The great and eminent scholars like Bukhari and Muslim have done an exhaustive research and investigation in each of the hadiths to determine their authenticity, and only when they were completely satisfied, they recorded these hadiths in their ‘Sahih’ or Book of Authentic Hadiths. They investigated each aspect of the saying or deed whether it was in conformity with the Quran or not, for it is inconceivable for a believer to assume that the Messenger of Allah (saws) would have done or said anything against the dictates of the Quran. Then they thoroughly checked and investigated the chain of narrators to see whether they were truthful people or not, or whether one who claimed to have heard it from the other was alive at the same time or not, and if alive, did they ever meet each other or not! If there was even a slight doubt in any event or chain of events, these eminent scholars refused to accept the hadith as authentic.

 

Even after all their exhaustive efforts and thorough investigations, it is impossible to claim, nor does anyone ever claim, that each and every hadith in their collection of ‘sahih’ is absolutely authentic; for after all, this is a work of man, and man is prone to shortcomings and error. For the believers, the only guaranteed authentic Book of Guidance has to be the Glorious Quran, whose authenticity is guaranteed until the end of time by none other than Allah Subhanah. For every aspect of guidance, ‘emaan, belief, faith, ‘aqeedah’, ‘tawheed’, ‘shirk’, etc., one need not look beyond the Quran. The hadiths, once they have been declared authentic by the scholars, will only be used when one finds the Quran silent on a particular subject.

 

My beloved brother in Islam, study the Glorious Quran in as much depth as you possibly can, and you will realize from the ‘noor’ of the Quran, how easy it is to determine the authentic hadiths from the fabricated ones. Just because one has heard that some hadiths are fabricated, it would not be construed as intelligence to reject each and every hadith, or reject the science of collecting authentic hadiths by the eminent scholars of Islam.

 

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

 

Your Brother in Islam,

 

 

Burhan

 

 

 


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