Islam on Marital Rights — Page 32
1 32. ISLAM ON MARITAL RIGHTS them their dowries. " (4:25). But there are cases where husbands grudge this payment. But. Allah commands that the dowry must be paid cheerfully and with good grace. God says: "And give the women their dowries willingly. But if they, of their own pleasure remit to you a part thereof, then enjoy it as something pleasant and wholesome. " (4:5). NO COERCION. The wife always has the right to remit to her husband a part or whole of her dowry, of her own free will; and if she does so, the husband will be free to use the amount so received as he likes. . But the remission must be made by the wife, of her own free will. . The Quranic words: “If they, of their own pleasure remit. . . " signify absolute freedom for the wife in this regard so that the husband will, on no account, maneuver by coercion or otherwise to obtain this remission. . It was for this very reason that the Caliph Omar and the famous Qadhi Shareeh gave their ruling that if a woman, after relinquishing her right to the dowry, at a later date, for any reason renews her claim for the payment of the portion remitted, it must be paid. The husband will have to pay it. The very act of her renewal of claim proves that she had been forced to relinquish the dowry against her own free will. . ANOTHER WARNING. The Holy Quran has given another warning in connection with the payment of the dowry. There are people who maneuver the payment in such a way as to extract a portion or even the whole amount after the payment has been made. Sometime a man who does not like his wife, does not put her away simply by divorcing her as the Islamic law has laid down, but instead leaves her fate hanging in the balance without making any decision and starts ill-treating and bullying her in the hope that she might relinquish her claim to the dowry and return some or all the gifts he had given her at the time of marriage. Islam and the Holy. Quran have strongly condemned such practices.