How Much Should Mahr Be According To Islam In 2025?

There are women on this planet who are asking for an entire house and a medical degree as part of their mahr. 

And there are men on this planet who own an entire house and have a medical degree and who are unwilling to give anything in mahr. 

Meanwhile, the number of unmarried Muslim women above the age of 35 stands at a record high of 42% and divorce rates are literally through the roof.

Folks, we are in a marriage crisis, like it or not. 

And anything that is proving a hindrance to two Muslims actually getting married right now needs to be addressed head-on. We need to get rid of that stuff. 

And one issue that keeps on coming up time and again as a key blocker to many people getting married is our crazy mahrs. 

Just take a quick look at social media. And look, it’s really easy for me to criticise what we’ve just seen. 

But the question arises, okay, Ibrahim, this is obviously a little bit unreasonable. But then what is reasonable? Who actually judges that? 

And that’s what we’re going to do in this article. 

What should the ideal mahr be in a scientific way, using a mahr calculator? Let’s find out. 

If you prefer watching over reading, you can watch our video version here.

What is Mahr? 

Okay, before we can sensibly opine on what exactly is the right amount of a mahr, let’s just actually get the facts right for a start. 

Allah SWT says in the Qur’an:

“[And give to the women (whom you marry) their Mahr [obligatory bridal-money given by the husband to his wife at the time of marriage] with a good heart.]” (Surah An-Nisa 4:4)  

In other words, the mahr is an obligatory gift that a man has to give a woman as part of the nikkah contract. 

It isn’t a payment… that means a woman is something to be bought and sold. 

So the question arises…

What’s the purpose of mahr? 

Well, honestly, there isn’t a clear-cut answer I could find that explicitly states this, but piecing together between the Quran and the Hadith, I would articulate it as follows. 

It’s an expression of the man’s desire to marry a woman, a sign of honour and respect for the woman, and a sign that the husband is willing to shoulder his responsibilities and fulfill his duties as part of this marriage. 

It is also a sum of money that gives the wife a degree of independence and a fallback in case things don’t work out. It also means that a man doesn’t just flippantly get married. There’s a financial cost associated with it that needs to be paid regardless of whether or not the couple subsequently divorce or not. 

Allah SWT says in the Quran: 

“But if you intend to replace a wife by another and you have given one of them a cantar [of gold, i.e., a great amount) as mahr, take not the least bit of it back, would you take it wrongfully without a right and [with] a manifest sin? And how could you take it [back] when you have gone in unto each other, and they have taken from you a firm and a strong covenant? (Surah An-Nisa 4:20-21)

Allah SWT is describing a man who is potentially going to divorce a wife. And Allah SWT says that when you divorce a wife, you’re not allowed to take that mahr off the table anymore. You have to still give that mahr, and it’s the woman’s right to keep that. 

So the implication is that the mahr is a must. It’s a means that is used to achieve different purposes, but it adds seriousness and financial stability for the woman in this nikkah contract. 

Okay, we know what mahr is, but the big question still remains: 

How much should a mahr be?

Let’s start with the minimum mahr, how low can a mahr be?

The minimum amount of mahr has been explained in the hadith where a woman comes to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and she offers herself in marriage to the Prophet, and he stays quiet. 

That’s his way of saying no, I don’t want to get married to you. 

But then, another man who wasn’t very well off came and he said, if you’re not marrying her, can I marry her? 

And the Prophet Muhammad PBUH said well you have to give her a mahr. Do you have anything of value that you can give? And the man said I don’t have anything of value to give. 

The Prophet said, “Well, you don’t have even as something as little as an iron ring that perhaps you can find and give to her as a gift”. 

He said, “No, I don’t even have that. What I do have is a piece of clothing that you wear around the waist, and I could rip that in half, and I could give her half, and I could keep half”. 

And the Prophet said, “Well, that’s not going to be very useful for her, is it? Because you need a full cloth to actually be useful”. So you can’t really give that. 

And then the man went away, and the Prophet called him and he said, “Do you know of anything of the Qur’an that you can give to her as a mahr?” 

And the man said, “I know so and so verses and surahs of the Qur’an”. And the Prophet said that if she is accepting, then that can be her mahr. [Sahih al-Bukhari 5132]

So this hadith shows us many things. 

It shows us that it’s permissible for the mahr to be even as little as an iron ring, or it could be a lot. But it has to be something that is considered wealth. It also needs to be something that the partners agree on. It also needs to be something that is fundamentally useful. It needs to have some value associated to it. And this is the Madhab of Imam Shafi. And it’s also the view of the majority of the scholars among the earlier and the later generations. 

The Hanafis, on the other hand, they stipulate that it should be 10 dirhams as a minimum, which in today’s day and age is about £24. Again, not very much at all. 

Should the mahr just be the minimum amount then?

Not necessarily. Our Prophet ﷺ is the best example of how to live the Sharia. So let’s have a look at what he paid the mother of the believers.

What was the mahr of Aisha?

Imam Muslim narrates in a sahih hadith where one of the Sahaba asked A’isha (RA), the wife of the Prophet, what the mahr was given by the Prophet PBUH to her. 

She said the mahr that he gave to his wives used to be 12 uqiyah and a nashsh. The Sahabi asked, “Do you know what a nashsh is?” And he said it is what is half of a uqiyah. That was 500 Dirhams, so this is the mahr given by the Prophet ﷺ to his wives. [Sahih Muslim 1426]

Ibn Khaldun provides some guidance on how much silver is in each dirham. And he worked it out to be 2.975 grams. So if we multiply 2.975 grams by 500 dirhams, we get to 1487.5 grams of silver, that’s about £1,200 in today’s value.

To my mind, unless there are significant reasons to go away from this amount, most folks should just stick with this. If it was good enough for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, A’isha (RA) and the other wives, then surely it should be good for most of us too.

Folks, note something very carefully:

I am not saying that a woman can’t ask for more than this. She can, and there are actually good grounds where she could be justified in asking for more than this as well. 

But let’s just keep the following in mind:

The Prophet ﷺ said: 

“The best of marriage is that which is made the easiest.” [Narrated by Ibn Hibban, classed as authentic by Al-Albani in Sahih Al-Jami’, 3300]

He ﷺ also said, 

“The best of Mahr’s is the simplest (or most affordable).” [Sahih Al-Jami’, 3279]

In another hadith, when Ali (RA) wanted Fatimah (RA)’s hand in marriage and he asked the Prophet, the Prophet said you need to give her some mahr, and he said look I don’t have anything and then the Prophet said well you do have your shield, your Hutami shield, which is of some value, why don’t you give her that instead as a mahr. 

Ali (RA) narrated: 

“I married Fatimah [may Allah be pleased with her] and said: “O Messenger of Allah, let me go ahead with the marriage”. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Give her something”. I said: “I do not have anything”. The Prophet said: “Where is your Hutami shield?” I said, “I have it with me”. He said, “Give it to her”. [Classed as authentic by Al-Albani in Sahih An-Nasa’i, 3160]

What’s the maximum a mahr should be?

Ibn Majah narrates a famous saying of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (RA) when he was telling the people: 

“Do not go to extremes with regard to the dowries of women, for if that were a sign of honour and dignity in this world or a sign of piety before Allah, then Muhammad [peace and blessings of Allah be upon him] would have done that before you. But he did not give any of his wives, and none of his daughters were given more than twelve Uqiyah. A man may increase the dowry until he feels resentment against her and says, “You cost me everything I own, and caused me a great deal of hardship”. [Classed as authentic by Al-Albani in Sahih Ibn Majah, 1532]

I know there are other narrations out there; apparently, Umar (RA) was challenged when he said this by a woman, and ultimately was said to have backed down from what he said. 

But, I personally couldn’t find any authentic basis for this latter backing down event to have occurred when it came to this particular incident. 

The basic point here, folks, is that a mahr doesn’t have to have an upper limit. But the Prophet ﷺ, through his example and through his words, he stressed the importance of keeping marriage easy. 

Why does marriage need to be kept easy? 

Because we have an absolute epidemic of zina all around us today. And simultaneously, we have an epidemic of unmarried women and men getting older and older, and both of these things there really should be a point of major concern because when that starts happening, you start seeing a disintegration of the key pillar of society, and that is the family. And if the mahr is one of the half a dozen different things that are making marriage difficult today, let’s at least make that thing less difficult because that’s in our control. 

So I know what I’ve said till this point hasn’t properly endeared me to the ladies. But having said all of that, there is a world where a woman could well command a much higher mahr than the mahr of A’isha (RA). 

Let’s take a look at this very interesting hadith:

It was narrated by Abd’Allah ibn Mas’ud (RA), and he was asked about a man who married a woman, but he didn’t actually give the amount of dowry that was supposed to be given, and he didn’t consummate the marriage with her before he died. 

And when asked to adjudicate on this, Ibn Mas’ud (RA) said, “She is entitled to a dowry like that of her peers without exaggeration or without falling short”. And in the same hadith, it was noted that the Prophet [PBUH] gave a similar verdict in his lifetime along these lines as well. [Narrated by Abu Dawud and At-Tirmidhi]

So, the interesting thing is that if a man and a woman stay silent on the subject, then the default mahr is actually the custom of her people, and it is the equivalent of what the woman’s peers received in their respective marriages. 

This also aligns with what the Qur’an teaches:

“Marry them with the permission of their people and give them their due compensation [i.e. mahr] according to what is acceptable” (Quran, 4:25). 

And one could also argue that, actually, the Prophet (PBUH)’s mahr should be understood in this light. And the thing to take away from the hadith is not necessarily that it was 500 dirhams, but that it was 500 dirhams, and that was the custom of the people at the time. That was the norm. If one of the wives was given that, they should all be given that. 

So the big question then is… 

How to work out the customary amount of mahr based on your people?

There have been a few attempts to try and articulate this, and many have said, look at the woman’s mother or look at the sisters or the aunts as an indicator of the sorts of mahr that a woman’s family is used to and then use that as the basis. That’s okay. 

But some women may not necessarily have equivalents to look at. And these days, the culture has evolved so much and so many people have moved country that it isn’t always useful to use your aunt’s mahr back in 30 years ago from Morocco as a good guide for you to marry in Los Angeles to a Mexican revert who’s been kicked out of the country by Donald Trump.

Now, there’s actually a really interesting website that was recently set up, from the looks of it called myMahr.fyi, which actually allows you to see mahr customs across the world. 

I found that pretty fascinating. Of course, it doesn’t have that many data points. So it’s not that useful yet, but maybe that’s a really interesting repository that develops an understanding of what the custom is. If there was a mechanism to see what the average mahr is across different wealth brackets, that would actually be pretty helpful in determining what the average of that woman’s peers.

How I would calculate the mahr

To my mind, one rule of thumb that could be quite helpful is 140th of the man’s annual salary. 

This is not a scientific number, but it is 2.5%, which, as you will know, is the zakat number. So there is at least some kind of rhyme to this number in the Shariah. 

At £100,000, that would result in £2,500 as the mahr. 

At £40,000 annual salary, that would result in £1,000 for the mahr, which sounds about fair and actually is in line with what the Prophet (PBUH) gave to A’isha (RA) as mahr. 

Now, let’s layer in the woman’s situation. 

Is she from a modest family, or is she from a middle-class family, or is she from a wealthy family? 

Below is a great illustration to break this concept down:

You can use this to adjust to basically any salary and any situation globally. You just need to know the man’s salary and the woman’s economic background, and that way you can basically figure out where you should pitch your particular tent.

Is this highly mathematical approach the best way forward? 

What should the woman actually demand here? 

We know that there’s a minimum. We know that there’s a maximum. We know that she’s got plenty of scope here. What should she do? 

Ultimately, ladies, marriage is a bit of give and take. And you are going to be relying on your husband to provide for you for the rest of your life. 

And my view is that if he’s a good guy, you should let him spend from what he is capable of. 

This is what the Qur’an encourages too, Allah SWT says: 

“Let the man of wealth provide according to his means. As for the one with limited resources, let him provide according to whatever Allah has given him. Allah does not require of any soul beyond what He has given it. After hardship, Allah will bring about ease”. (Qur’an 65:7)

This verse is not specific to mahr, but the principle is applicable here. 

So be easy and lenient. 

Go according to the means of that husband and don’t be particularly difficult. 

in’sha’Allah if you are doing that for your husband, he will be easy and lenient on you for the rest of your life. 

So folks, what actually is the answer? 

What is the correct mahr? 

The correct mahr is ultimately what gets you closer to Jannatul Firdous, and the best way to do that, in my view, is to stick tightly to the sunnah and also to be generous. 

So if I’m a man, I would start with the mahr of A’isha (RA) as your suggested approach, roughly about £1,200 these days. 

And if that doesn’t work, and the woman would like more, and she is entitled to want more, I would then be generous and give her 1/20th of your annual income. Or, if you’re feeling particularly that you want to negotiate with her, then you might want to start with 1/40th and work your way down to 1/20th. 

If she wants more than that, then I would let the parents discuss it. And I would look at what you are able to afford and what you would be happy to pay, with no bad feelings and then base your decision off that. 

But, I personally would think that going above 1/20th of your annual income is heading into potentially excessive territory. But that’s just my subjective opinion. 

If I am a woman, on the other hand, I would ask for the mahr of A’isha (RA) as your suggested approach as well. But if the husband doesn’t want to pay that, presumably, he wants to pay less, then I would reflect very carefully on his financial standing. 

Is he a student? Is he earning? Does he have any family support obligations that he is also taking into account? 

How much do you personally care about the mahr being £1,200, or would you be happy with less than that? 

Then you can ultimately decide how you want to do it. You might decide to take a little bit less, or you could take a little bit less now but then agree to take the rest of the amount that you would like as a deferred amount of the mahr, so that it is paid perhaps in the next 3 years once he has started working. 

As ever, folks, do remember that these articles are not a fatwa, but hopefully these are semi-educated musings and I hope that they help for you to understand what our noble religion tells us about mahr, marriage, and the ways the Prophet and the pious people before us would deal with this particular issue. 

And then, finally, I would love to hear from you guys. 

What do you think about what we have covered on this topic? 

What do you think about my approach to mahr about this 1/40th approach? 

I’d love to hear from you in the comments. 

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If you’re wondering how to manage finances in marriage according to Islam, check out this detailed guide here. And if you’re about to start planning a wedding, read our article on the great big muslim wedding crisis here.