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Is there not in our Islamic religion anything that specifies marriage wages and dowries, or their cost, even as a certain percentage, to prevent frivolity and the exploitation of what Allah the Almighty has permitted?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

There is nothing in Islam that specifies a particular amount for the dowry. What is desirable is to make it easy and not to be excessive. The scholars have agreed that there is no limit to the maximum dowry. The proof for this is the Almighty's saying: {And if you want to replace a wife with another and you have given one of them a qintar [a great amount of wealth], do not take anything back from it}. It is also narrated that Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, gave Umm Kulthum, daughter of Ali, a dowry of forty thousand, and he recanted his intention to forbid excessive dowries after being reminded of the verse. Exaggeration in dowries causes the spread of spinsterhood and burdens families with debt, but what the Sharia has left open cannot be restricted. Although some scholars believe that the ruler can restrict permissible matters for the public interest, Umar's recantation based on the verse indicates that this issue is not something the ruler can restrict.

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

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