Question:
When does the obligation to pay the dower (mahr) fall upon a man, and does the dower become obligatory by the marriage contract alone, or is it necessary for the husband and wife to be alone together?
Answer:
The dower becomes fully obligatory for the woman in the following cases:
① The husband and wife being alone together.
② The relationship of husband and wife being established.
③ Death.
When a man married a woman and was alone with her, the dower became obligatory, even if he divorced her immediately afterwards. If someone married a woman and then the relationship of husband and wife was established, the dower is fully obligatory. Likewise, death after the marriage also makes the payment of the dower obligatory. That is, if a man married a woman and had not yet gone to her, nor seen her, nor spoken to her, and he suddenly passed into the embrace of death, the following matters are established for the woman:
① She must observe the waiting period (iddah).
② She has a share of inheritance from the man’s property.
③ She is entitled to the dower of equivalent (mahr al-mithl), provided that no dower was specified.
Some people object to this, saying: how can the above matters be established for the woman when her husband could not even see her or come to her? We say that it is so, because Allah the Exalted says:
﴿وَالَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَوْنَ مِنْكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَاجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنْفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا﴾
“Those of you who die and leave wives behind, the wives shall wait for four months and ten (days).”
She is his wife, even though he departed this transient world before consummating the marriage.
