فیؤخذ من حسناته فیدفع إلیها بقدر حقّها...

فیؤخذ من حسناته فیدفع إلیها بقدر حقّها، فإذا لم تبق له حسنة، أمر به إلی النار بنکثه للعهد، إنّ العهد کان مسؤلاً.» He who wrongs his wife regarding her Mahr is considered by Allah a fornicator. On the Day of Judgment, Allah, the honored, the glorified, shall say unto him: ‘O servant!

I married My servant unto you according to My covenant; however, you were not faithful to My covenant and oppressed My servant.’ Therefore, He shall take his benefactions and good deeds [ hasanat ] as much as is her right and give them unto her and if he is left with no benefactions, He will order him cast into the Fire because he did not honor his pledge and surely all will be questioned regarding their pledges.[^10] The Philosophy of Mahr Some may question the legislation [ tashri‘ ] of Mihr and declare: ‘Men and women physically and instinctually need each other.

Because of this they are attracted to one another and consequently get married. Taking this into consideration, what is the reason for Mahr ? With the legislation of Mahr women are debased and downgraded to the level of a trade commodity.

Men buy women with Mihr like one buys a slave.’ In answer, it must be said: In Islam neither are women considered commodities or slaves, nor is Mahr deemed a trade price; rather, Mihr is a gift or endowment that a husband bestows upon his wife in order to revere her and demonstrate his devotion to her. In order to explicate the issue and further clarify the philosophy of the legislation of Mihr two points shall be enumerated.

First point: Even though men and women physically need each other and naturally desire one another, each of them has special characteristics: One characteristic of women is their delicacy and beauty which is one aspect of men’s attraction to them. The most important factor of women’s influence is their beauty; something for which men have a unique regard.

A woman intrinsically [ fitri ] understands this and thus utilizes various means of beautification and adornment in order to appear more beautiful and penetrate deeper into a man’s heart. A second quality of women is that even though they have sexual needs similar to men, they are stronger in masking their instinctive desires. They appear free from desires and usually do not propose to men.

A woman prefers to permeate the heart of a man and cause him to become enamored with her so that he asks for her hand in marriage. Makeup, flirtatiousness, coyness, and coquettishness of women originate from this issue.