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What is the legitimate right of the wife to the dowry (Mahr), the jewelry (Shabka), the deferred dowry (Mu'akhar), and the apartment agreed upon as a gift, in the event of divorce before consummation?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If a man divorces his wife before consummating the marriage, and a dowry was specified for her, then she is entitled to half of the specified dowry, in accordance with the Almighty's saying: "And if you divorce them before you have touched them and you had already specified for them an obligation (dower) - then for them is half of what you specified, unless they [the women] forgo it or he in whose hand is the marriage contract forgoes it." This dowry includes cash, jewelry (شبكة), and the deferred dowry (مؤخر). She must return half of the cash and jewelry, and you must pay half of the deferred dowry after its increase.

As for gifts other than the dowry, they may be reclaimed if the divorce was at the wife's request, because they were given for the purpose of marriage, and that purpose has been lost. As for the apartment, it may be reclaimed whether the divorce was initiated by you or at her request, because it is a gift that has not yet been taken possession of, and it is permissible to revoke a gift before possession according to the majority of scholars.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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