Taking Jewellery and the Like from the Son-in-Law at the Wedding

Question

In almost the whole province of Gujarat there is this custom: when the engagement takes place, a sum is fixed at that time for making jewellery and clothes for the girl. This sum is given by the boy or his guardian (wali), and it is called “lachche” and “palla” (a sum given by the groom’s side for the bride’s jewellery and clothes). This sum, according to the standing of the two parties, is fixed at two hundred, four hundred, a thousand, two thousand or even more, and without it the engagement is not accepted.

Answer

What is wajib upon the boy is the mahr, maintenance (nafaqa) and clothing; jewellery and the like are not wajib by the Shari‘a. And the custom found in some places of taking something from the boy or his guardian before the nikah or before the bride’s send-off to her husband’s home, such that the send-off is not carried out without it, has no basis in the Shari‘a; taking this…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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