Exacting Servant-Like Service from a Son-in-Law When “the Clan Is Not Found”

Question

Leaving their own tribe and clan lineage, they contract nikah in another tribe. The form is this: a girl in exchange for a girl — in village idiom called “exchange of brides” — is done, regarding it as necessary, indeed more than necessary. If on one side, in the boy’s family, there is no girl, then they consider it necessary to take in cash from ten (10) thousand up to twenty (20) or twenty-two (22) thousand rupees, according to age, beauty and good looks. This is at the time of the proposal (khitba).

Answer

Exchange marriage is not impermissible when on both sides the mahr is independent; but regarding it as necessary is wrong, and regarding it as more than necessary is more wrong. If a girl is not obtained in exchange, then taking money is a bribe (rishwa), which is haram and for which there is a threat of Hell.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.