Ownership & Naming

**Ownership of Mahr:** The mahr belongs solely to the wife, and no one among her guardians has any right to it. Although they may receive it on her behalf, they receive it for her account and ownership. **Evidence:** - Allah says: "But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then consume it in satisfaction and ease" [An-Nisa: 4] - Allah says: "Do not take [back] from it anything. Would you take it by falsehood and manifest sin?" [An-Nisa: 20] --- **Naming the Mahr in the Contract:** It is Sunnah to name and specify the mahr in the marriage contract because the Prophet ﷺ never conducted a marriage without naming the mahr in it. Also, naming it prevents disputes and conflict between the spouses. --- **Conditions for Mahr:** **1.** It must be valuable, permissible wealth that can be owned and sold and benefited from. Therefore, wine, pigs, or stolen property known to both parties are not valid. **2.** It must be free from uncertainty - meaning known and specified. An unknown mahr like an unspecified house, or an unspecified animal, or "whatever my tree produces this year" or similar is not valid. Based on this, anything valid as a price or wage - whether physical property, debt, or known benefit - is valid as mahr. --- **Immediate and Deferred Mahr:** It is permissible to pay the mahr immediately or defer it - all of it or part of it - according to people's customs and traditions. However, the deferment period must not be excessively unknown, and the time must not be too distant, as that would likely lead to loss of the mahr.