Is Nikāḥ Valid If Performed Without Dowry and Later Dowry Equivalent Is Fixed?
Source: Fatāwā Amunpūrī by Shaykh Ghulām Muṣṭafā Ẓahīr Amunpūrī
❖ Question:
If a Nikāḥ al-Shighār (exchange marriage) was performed, and later a dowry equivalent (mahr al-mithl) was fixed, does that make the marriage valid?
✿ Answer:
Nikāḥ al-Shighār (exchange marriage) is bāṭil (invalid) and not contracted at all. It is prohibited, as established by multiple aḥādīth and the consensus (ijmāʿ) of the Ummah.
◈ Scholarly Statements
❀ Imām al-Nawawī رحمه الله (d. 676H):
«اجمع العلماء على انه منهي عنه»
“The scholars are unanimous that Nikāḥ al-Shighār is prohibited.”
(Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 9/201)
❀ Ibn Jarīr رحمه الله (d. 741H):
«نكاح الشغار، وهو باطل اجماعا»
“Nikāḥ al-Shighār is invalid by consensus.”
(al-Qawānīn al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 203)
❀ Imām Suwaid ibn Ghaflah رحمه الله (d. 80H) explained:
“The Companions رضي الله عنهم considered Shighār ḥarām. It is when a man marries his daughter (or female relative) to another man, on the condition that the other marries him his daughter (or relative), without dowries.”
(Muṣannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah 4/380, ṣaḥīḥ sanad)
◈ Position of the Ḥanafī Scholars
The Ḥanafī jurists allowed it by analogy, saying the nikāḥ in exchange itself becomes the dowry, and if later mahr al-mithl is set, the marriage is valid.
- Ibn Baṭṭāl رحمه الله:
“No part of the Sharīʿah permits making private parts the dowry. But Abū Ḥanīfah said: this marriage is contracted.”
(Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 8/316) - Al-Sarakhsī رحمه الله (d. 483H):
“Those who perform Shighār make the women’s private parts the dowry, and private parts cannot be dowry, just as wine or pork cannot be dowry. Hence the condition is invalid, but the marriage still stands.”
(al-Mabsūṭ 5/105)
◈ Refutation of This View
This is only a ḥīlah (legal trick) with no basis in Sharīʿah:
- The Companions رضي الله عنهم and early muḥaddithīn did not validate such marriages, rather they ruled for separation between spouses and required a new nikāḥ with proper dowry.
- Later fixing of mahr al-mithl does not correct an originally invalid Shighār contract.
◈ Summary
➊ If each marriage has its own separate dowry fixed, then such marriages are valid.
➋ If the marriages are performed in exchange as dowry (Shighār), then they are invalid, even if later a dowry equivalent (mahr al-mithl) is set.
Conclusion:A Shighār marriage is invalid by Qurʾān, Sunnah, and ijmāʿ. Merely adding mahr al-mithl later does not validate it. The only solution is to renew the nikāḥ with a proper dowry.
