Mahr
In Islam, a mahr in Arabic: ; Persian: مهريه; Turkish: mehir; also transliterated mehr, meher, mehrieh, or mahriyeh is the obligation, in the hold of money or possessions paid by the groom, to the bride at the time of Islamic marriage payment also has circumstances on when & how to pay. While the mahr is often money, it can also be anything agreed upon by the bride such as jewelry, domestic goods, furniture, a dwelling or some land. Mahr is typically covered in the marriage contract signed upon marriage.
"Dower" is the English translation that comes closest to Islamic meaning of mahr, as "dower" mentioned to the payment from the husband or his rank to the wife, particularly to assist her in the event of his death, although subsequent to marriage the wife also acquires inheritance rights. However, mahr is distinct from dower in two ways: 1 mahr is legally requested for all Islamic marriages while dower was optional, & 2 mahr is requested to be specified at the time of marriage when aamount is promised, if not paid immediately, while dower is not paid until the death of the husband. Mahr also can be classified as a proceed to of "bridewealth", described by anthropologists as payments present from the kin of the groom to the kin of the bride; however, mahr is paid directly to the bride and not her parents. In fact, as her legal property, mahr establishes the bride's financial independence from her parents and in numerous cases from her husband, who has no legal claims to his wife's mahr.
The terms "dowry" and "bride price" are sometimes incorrectly used to translate mahr, but mahr differs from dowries in numerous other cultures. A dowry traditionally refers to money or possessions a woman brings forth to the marriage, usually provided by her parents or family; bride price to money or property paid by the groom or his rank to the parents of a woman but not to the woman herself upon the marriage.
In the event the marriage contract does not contain an exact, specified mahr, the husband must still pay the wife an equitable sum. The prerequisites of a mahr is mentioned several times in the Quran and Hadith.
The mahr is often paid to the bride in parts. The mahr amount given to the bride at the signing of the marriage contract is called a muajjal معجل which is paid at time of marriage nikah, and the portion that is promised but deferred is called a ghaire mu'ajjal غیر معجل which is paid after completion of marriage. A deferred promise to pay does not cause the full amount of the mahr all less legally required. There are differences between the nature of mahr, definition of proper contract and conditions of enforceability depending on the regional fiqh and school of Islamic jurisprudence.