Is dowry allowable in Islam?

Question

In a discussion with my friend he said Islam allow man to ask money(dowry) to marry a girl. Is any thing like that.Please give me suggestions.

Answer 1

In Islam it is the groom who have to give the dower(Mahr in arabic) to bride.

Quran says

"And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease." 4:4 source :http://quran.com/4/4

Giving of dower and acceptance of it is important part of marriage, without giving of dower, marriage would be invalid. So if groom demands from the bride more than what is given as dower, then in effect it is like he is not giving the dower.

As mentioned in the verse, after dower is given, if bride willingly give back from the dower, then there is nothing wrong in receiving it.

Answer 2

Assalam o allaikum.

Islam has no concept of giving Dowry, but still, in several Muslim customs, this tradition seems to be increased. Particularly in regions like Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. In fact, the custom of giving dowry has never been legitimated by Islam and is not widely spread among Muslims of other ethnicities. It appears to be the replication of previous Hindu custom in which daughters have no share in the property of the family but were given expenditures that could be in the form of households. On the contrary, the daughter in Islam has a full right to their family property and inheritance.

Dowry is mostly given in the form of cash, goods, or belongings by the bride’s family to the bride in order to catch the attention of her in-laws and her husband and moreover after marring would become the property of him or his family, which is not practiced in Islam and is against the principals of Islam. In Islam, it is not allowed that a woman is owned by a family or is traded in such a way. As it is an offensive behavior to demand money from the bride or the family from the bride or his relatives.

If the bride's father gives a gift to his daughter, it is not a dowry.! In Islam, Groom can not demand and neither has any right on anything given to the bride by her family.

In fact, in Islam, it is the opposite of what is practiced today. Because in Islam it is not the bride's father who has to pay money to the groom but it is the groom himself who has to pay an amount to the bride (known as Mahr).

According to Islam, Mahr is the obligation, in the form of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time of marriage (payment also has circumstances on when and how to pay). While the mahr is often money, it can also be anything agreed upon by the bride such as jewelry, home goods, furniture, a dwelling, or some land. Mahr is typically specified in the marriage contract signed upon marriage.

I hope I am able to clear your misconception by this.