Fixing the Amount of the Mahr

Question

Does any individual or group have the right to fix a limit for the mahr, when a Companion of such great stature and a caliph vested with authority as Hazrat ‘Umar ﵁ withdrew his order concerning such a restriction and, delivering a sermon on the minbar again, said: [ar]فَمَنْ شَاءَ أَنْ يُعْطِيَ مَا أَحَبَّ[/ar] “Whoever wishes, let him give whatever he likes”?

Answer

Fixing a mahr beyond one’s means is not approved by the Shari‘a — Hazrat ‘Umar ﵁ forbade it. However, no individual and no group has the right to fix some particular amount of mahr for the whole biradari (kinship community) such that no permission at all remains to decrease or increase it and everyone is compelled, willy-nilly, to that very amount.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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