Assalamo Alaykum dear scholars, Kindly I want to put forward my question about mahr: 1. Who stipulates the amount of mahr, the Wali or the girl who is going to get married? 2. If the Wali fixes an amount of mahr but the bride does not agree to this amount, then is this mahr valid? Wa Jazakum-Allah Khayra!!

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

It is the woman or her guardian who determines the dowry if there is no disagreement between them, and if they disagree, then the Maaliki School of jurisprudence stated – and this is the preponderant opinion in our view – that if the woman is virgin then it is the statement of the guardian that should be taken into account provided that the dowry is the same as the dowry of the women of the same social status like her. If she is previously married, then it is absolutely her word that should be taken into account.

“Al-Mudawwanah” of Ibn Al-Qaasim reads: “I said (to Imaam Maalik): “If she says I disagree and the guardian says ‘I agree’, he said: ‘the statement that should be taken into account is that of the guardian if it was a dowry of the women of the same social status like her.” I said: “If she is previously married, then it is her statement that should be taken into account and there is no need to consider the statement of the guardian.”

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