Concept of Marriages and Mehr under Muslim Law

At a nikah in Mumbai, before families and witnesses, the bride and groom are asked if they accept, and an amount called mehr is announced. To a first-year student it can look like a ceremony with a cash figure. In law it is a contract with terms, conditions for validity, a classification of marriages into valid, void and irregular, and a financial right that belongs to the wife alone. What makes a nikah valid, what happens when it is not, and what exactly is mehr?

In two minutes

A Muslim marriage (nikah) is a contract made by proposal and acceptance at one meeting between competent, consenting parties who are free of legal bars; it is classified as valid, irregular or void, and the wife is entitled to mehr, a sum or property that the husband must pay her.

The rest of this chapter

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