Is Ten Dirhams the Minimum Mahr? A Detailed Analysis

Source: Fatāwā Amunpuri by Shaykh Ghulam Mustafa Zaheer Amunpuri

❖ Question:​

Is the minimum amount of Mahr (dowry) in Islam ten dirhams?

✿ Answer:​

Islamic Sharīʿah does not prescribe any fixed minimum or maximum amount for Mahr.
Whatever amount the two parties mutually agree upon can validly be set as Mahr—whether little or much.

◈ The Narration Claiming a Minimum of Ten Dirhams:​

It is reported from Sayyidunā Jābir bin ʿAbdillāh رضي الله عنه that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:


لا مَهْرَ دُونَ عَشَرَةِ دَرَاهِمَ
“There is no Mahr less than ten dirhams.”
[Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 3/245; Musnad Abī Yaʿlā: 2094; al-Kāmil by Ibn ʿAdī: 6/418; al-Sunan al-Kubrā by al-Bayhaqī: 7/133]


However, this narration is fabricated and false.

❖ Critical Evaluation of the Narrators:​

① Mubashshir bin ʿUbayd is unanimously considered abandoned and a liar.


❀ Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal رحمه الله said:
“His narrations are fabricated; he is a liar.”
(al-ʿIlal wa Maʿrifat al-Rijāl: 2639)


❀ Imām al-Jawzjānī:
“His narrations are false.”
(Aḥwāl al-Rijāl: 303)


❀ Imām Ibn Ḥibbān:
“He attributes fabrications to reliable narrators. His narrations may be written only as curiosities.”
(Kitāb al-Majrūḥīn: 3/30)


❀ Imām al-Bukhārī: Declared him Munkar al-Ḥadīth.
(al-Tārīkh al-Kabīr: 1960)


❀ Imām al-Dāraquṭnī:
“Matrouk al-Ḥadīth, a forger of narrations.”
(Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 4/237)


He also stated:
“No one supports his narrations. They are Munkar.”
(ibid. 3/245)


❀ Imām Ibn ʿAdī:
“Its chain is invalid. None narrated it except Mubashshir.”
(al-Kāmil fī Ḍuʿafā’ al-Rijāl: 7/418)


❀ Ḥāfiẓ al-Bayhaqī:
“All scholars of ḥadīth agree he is to be abandoned.”
(Maʿrifat al-Sunan wal-Āthār: 10/218; al-Khilāfiyāt: 6/156)


❀ Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar:
“Its chain is weak; it contains Mubashshir bin ʿUbayd, a liar.”
(al-Dirāyah: 2/62)


② Ḥajjāj bin Arṭā’ is weak and a mudallis according to the majority of hadith scholars.


❀ Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr:
“No ḥadīth scholar considers this narration authentic.”
(al-Istidhkār: 5/411)


Even Ḥanafī scholars such as al-Zaylaʿī and Ibn al-Humām declared this narration weak.

◈ Fabricated Attribution to Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar:​

It is falsely claimed by Ibn al-Humām al-Ḥanafī that Ibn Ḥajar authenticated a narration about the ten-dirham minimum.
Upon investigation, Ḥāfiẓ al-Sakhāwī, a direct student of Ibn Ḥajar, refuted this attribution after thorough research.
(al-Ajwibah al-Marḍiyyah: 1/59; Tanzīh al-Sharīʿah: 2/207)

◈ Alleged Statement of ʿAlī رضي الله عنه:​

“There is no Mahr less than ten dirhams.”
(Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 3/200; al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 8/261)


But this narration is extremely weak due to:

• Dāwūd bin Yazīd al-Awdī: Declared weak by Imām Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn, al-Dāraquṭnī, and others.
• Later scholars like Ibn al-Jawzī, al-Haythamī, al-Dhahabī, and Ibn Ḥajar also considered it weak.
• Ibn ʿAdī’s defense of him contradicts the consensus and is not accepted.

Also, the claim that such a quote from ʿAlī became a hadith through gradual misattribution is mentioned by Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal.
(Sunan al-Dāraquṭnī: 3/200; al-Sunan al-Kubrā: 7/240)

◈ Imām al-Shāfiʿī:​

“They narrated from ʿAlī a statement that is not established.”
(al-Umm: 5/60; Maʿrifat al-Sunan wal-Āthār: 1/217)

❖ Statements from the Salaf:​

❀ ʿAṭā bin Abī Rabāḥ said:
“Muslims used to marry with Mahr less or more than ten dirhams.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 4/187 – Ṣaḥīḥ)


❀ Ṣāliḥ bin Muslim said:


“I asked al-Shaʿbī: A man marries a woman for one dirham?”
He replied:
“It is valid if done in exchange for a garment or any item.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah: 4/187 – Ṣaḥīḥ)

◈ Statement of Imām Ibn al-Qayyim رحمه الله:​

“To reject authentic and explicit Sunnah regarding the validity of marriage with a small Mahr—even as little as an iron ring—on the basis of a fabricated narration and the weakest form of analogy is not acceptable.”
He criticizes the Ḥanafī analogy that draws comparison between Mahr and the minimum value required to amputate a thief's hand (ten dirhams).
(Iʿlām al-Muwaqqiʿīn: 2/330)

❖ Clarification of Misinterpreted Verse:​

Some cite:


قَدْ عَلِمْنَا مَا فَرَضْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِي أَزْوَاجِهِمْ
(Sūrah al-Aḥzāb: 50)
“We have made known what We have enjoined upon them concerning their wives...”


This does not refer to the amount of Mahr. The verse is general and relates to rights, obligations, or marital limits—not a specific amount.

❖ Statements from Ḥanafī Scholars Against the Ten Dirham Minimum:​

❀ ʿAllāmah ʿAbd al-Ḥayy al-Lakhnawī (d. 1304 AH):

• All narrations on the ten-dirham minimum are weak and unauthentic.
• The claim that these narrations become ḥasan due to multiple chains is false—they all contain liars or accused narrators.
• He concludes that:
  
  “The Quran’s absolute command must be followed. Fixing a minimum amount has no basis.”
  (Ẓafar al-Amānī: p. 172; ʿUmdat al-Riʿāyah: 2/33)
  

Summary:​

• The claim that Mahr must be at least ten dirhams is baseless.
• All relevant narrations are either fabricated, extremely weak, or not established.
• The correct position is that there is no minimum amount for Mahr.
• Whatever is mutually agreed upon—even a small item or service—is valid as Mahr.

◈ Three Types of Mahr:​

① Muʿajjal (immediate): Paid at the time of Nikāḥ.
② Muʾajjal (deferred): Set at the time of Nikāḥ but paid later.
③ Mahr Tafwīḍ: Amount not set at the time of Nikāḥ; later assigned based on Mahr Mithl (customary Mahr of similar family women).

❖ Statement of Imām Ibn al-Mundhir رحمه الله (d. 319 AH):​

لا نعلم حجة تثبت صداقا معلوما، لا يجوز غيره
“We do not know of any evidence that fixes a specific amount for Mahr such that anything else is impermissible.”
(al-Ishrāf ʿalā Madhāhib al-ʿUlamā’: 1/36)