Anonymous wrote:
Mahr is property a groom settles on his wife at marriage in Islam, and a specified amount that is promised, but deferred, and which must be paid in the event the man divorces the woman. Both the amounts payable upon marriage and the amount payable in arrears can be quite minimal--they are set out in the marriage contract.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think people are using dowry wrong.

Dowry is property the bride brings to the husband upon marriage.

Mahr is property a groom settles on his wife at marriage in Islam, and a specified amount that is promised, but deferred, and which must be paid in the event the man divorces the woman. Both the amounts payable upon marriage and the amount payable in arrears can be quite minimal--they are set out in the marriage contract.

The cultural practice among Levantine and Gulf Arabs (don't know about others) regardless on religion is for the groom to buy jewelry for his bride, the cost of which varies by his means.

Mahr is closer to bride price than to dowry--except the bride price is given to the bride's family, not the bride herself. In Europe in the Middle Ages, bride price began to be given directly to the bride instead of her family. In that case, it is referred to as dower.

Is Mahr in the Quran or Hadith? My understanding is that, in the Quran, all a man owes his soon-to-be ex-wife is three months of support while they wait to see if she's pregnant with his child, then she returns to her family and they support her. Anything additional is contractual and dependent on the mores of that society.