What is the philosophy behind the payment of “Dowry”?

One of the conditions for a marriage to be valid is to define something as “Dowry”.

The motives of paying dowry have been changed several times throughout the history, sometimes it was considered as the price of the bride, and in a period of time it was as a gift from the groom to the father of the bride, and sometime it was as a gift to the bride herself.

In the holy Quran chapter Rumm verse 21, Allah said:

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُم مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِّتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُم مَّوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً إِنَّ فِي ذَلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

“And of His signs is that He created for you wives from among yourselves that you might reside with them, and has put kindness and mercy between you. Surely, there are signs in this for those who think”.

In this verse the spouses are defined as a means for tranquility.

It is interesting that in a workmanlike management, women are created as the symbol of beauty and somehow richness and men are created like they are seeking the beauty and they are in need of that and this difference between men and women makes the one who is seeker, look after the one who is sought and makes him do his best to reach her, the man is looking for the tranquility and the woman is looking carefully to find which of the seekers of her, is most suitable for her tranquility and has the purest feelings.

When the holy Quran talks about dowry, it says in chapter Nisa verse 4:

وَآتُواْ النَّسَاء صَدُقَاتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةً

“Give women their dowries freely”

The word “نحله” in the verse is described in the exegesis of the holy Quran as gift.

You know in the contracts like transaction, there are two sides, and every side gives something and receives something, but from the exegesis of this verse we understand that dowry is not made obligatory as one side of contract of marriage, despite of the belief of some people that they think that dowry is something that men give, because of the pleasure that they gain through marriage, but we take this point from the verse that it is as a gift.

So we can say that dowry is a gift that men accept to pay it to the women as thanks for accepting their proposal. And it is a way for men to show their honesty, and it is interesting that the word in Arabic which is used for dowry is “صداق” or صدقه” ” which literally is related to the honesty, and in fact it is a symbol for honesty and for this very reason we see that the amount of that is not obligatory in Islam and it is something that is defined out of consent between man and woman.

So as summery of this essay we say that dowry is paid for two reasons:

1) A way to show the honesty of men.

2) A way to thank women because of the accepting the marriage.