I am very disappointed to say that nowadays the society has incorporated strange mandatory traditions in our lives which have no concrete foundations. These traditions are useless and completely against Islamic Sharia’ah. A lot of occasions and traditions that are wrong and unlawful have now become an important and mandatory part of our lives. ‘Dowry’ is a part of one of these. The following article will place light on the Islamic education in regards to dowry and what the important figures of Islam have to say about dowry. First of all, the main question is, what is the Sharia’ah importance of dowry? According to Sharia’ah, the reality of dowry is just limited to the fact that if any father wants to gift her daughter anything according to his economic abilities, he is allowed to do so. However this is not mandatory for marriage nor do the in laws have any right to ask for it. In laws cannot, in any way, say anything to the bride or be angry with her if she receives fewer dowries or brings no dowry at all. Dowry is not a mean to increase one’s respect and show case it to everyone at the time of marriage. There has been a widespread of wrong thoughts and beliefs in regards to dowry and according to me, we cannot just ignore that mindset, for example

1-      Dowry is considered to be a compulsory part of the marriage and so if the family does not has money for dowry, the girl doesn’t gets married. We have no idea how many girls in our society are still unmarried because their parents have no money for dowry and if they get married, parents have to work very hard or even earn through unlawful ways in order to earn for dowry. If a father does not wants to earn through such unlawful ways then he eventually drowns himself in loans.

2-      The quantity of dowry and the compulsory things that are demanded by the people is increasing in cost day by day. Dowry is no longer a gift from a father to his daughter which he can give according to his abilities happily; rather, it is oppression from the society which involves consideration, not only of daughter’s needs but the needs of her husband and in laws. Whether a father can or cannot give dowry, he has to give it in any case.

3-      The giving of dowry is not done just to fulfill the needs to the girl or to make her happy rather it is there to make everyone happy who sees it.

4-      The most disgusting thing about dowry is that the girl’s husband and in laws keep an eye on the dowry. Sometimes the in laws stubbornly demand dowry and sometimes even when it is not demanded in words, people still think that the bride will bring fabulous dowry. If their expectations are unfulfilled, they will eventually make life miserable for the bride by ranting about dowry continuously.

A lot of societal disturbances and crisis occur due to such thoughts and traditions that are linked to dowry. A lot of people have written on this topic and some governmental platforms have also been established which are working on this matter. Alhumdulillah, the mindsets of people are gradually changing due to such attempts. The show casing of dowry has decreased. Dowry has been banned in foreign countries but a lot of communities still live with the same mindsets and thoughts. Some people suggest that the government should completely ban dowry but dowry is a societal problem which cannot be solved through the compulsion of laws. This is the reason why it is very important create awareness though education and media. The basic aim will be to change the thinking patterns of people. In regards to Sharia’ah and society, there is nothing wrong in giving of gifts from a father to his daughter (according to his abilities) which will prove to useful for her in her later life since Hazrat Muhammad (ﷺ) himself gave some dowry with simplicity to his daughter Hazrat Fatima (رضی اللہ عنھا). According to Sharia’ah there is nothing wrong in giving dowry to daughters and if there are no financial problems, the father can give his daughter whatever he desires to happily. The real problem occurs when dowry is only for decoration and show casing and in case the parents are not able to give dowry, the bride has to bear continuous rantings. In order to put an end to such mindset, every community will have to come together and perform JIhad against it till such people become shameful of their acts. Such changes can only be brought into the society when the educated and impactful people come together and create an environment of awareness for other people. Gradually, this environment changes the thoughts of people and overtakes everyone but this change also requires continuous heartfelt efforts. It is disappointing how people who should be the pioneers of change in the society are involved in other problems and so the responsibility of change and spreading awareness goes ignored. However, it is not right to become depressed about it and do nothing. One of the rightful act one can do is to spread the good within your small circle and be courageous when saying the lawful. Eventually these small rightful efforts will attract people and will bring about a change not only in their thoughts but also in their actions, In Shaa Allah.