Hanafi minimum mahr
…10 dirhams = 30.618 g of silver
Mahr calculator, minimum mahr and Mahr Fatimi today.
See the Hanafi minimum mahr and the Mahr Fatimi at today's silver price in your currency, value a mahr agreed in gold or silver, and split it into the part paid now and the part deferred.
Mahr Fatimi
…500 dirhams = 1,530.9 g of silver
- Silver
- …
- Gold, 24k
- …
Loading today's prices…
Use my own prices
Minimum in each madhhab
- Hanafi
- 10 dirhams of silver
- Maliki, silver
- …
- Maliki, gold
- …
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- No set minimum
Everything you type stays on this device. Prices: gold-api.com and Exchange Rate API, refreshed hourly.
Guide
Mahr, the bride's right in the nikah.
Mahr is the gift a husband must give his wife because of the marriage. It belongs to her alone. In the Hanafi school the minimum is 10 dirhams of silver, about 30.618 g, and there is no maximum. The Mahr Fatimi, the mahr linked to the marriage of Fatimah, the Prophet's daughter ﷺ, is most often given as 500 dirhams, about 1,530.9 g of silver. The calculator above values both at today's silver price.
وَءَاتُوا۟ ٱلنِّسَآءَ صَدُقَٰتِهِنَّ نِحْلَةًۭ ۚ فَإِن طِبْنَ لَكُمْ عَن شَىْءٍۢ مِّنْهُ نَفْسًۭا فَكُلُوهُ هَنِيٓـًۭٔا مَّرِيٓـًۭٔا
Wa aatun nisaaa'a sadu qaatihinna nihlah; fa in tibna lakum 'an shai'im minhu nafsan fakuloohu hanee'am mareee'aa
"And give the women [upon marriage] their [bridal] gifts graciously. But if they give up willingly to you anything of it, then take it in satisfaction and ease."
Quran 4:4, translation by Sahih International.
The minimum mahr in each madhhab
Hanafi position
The minimum mahr is 10 dirhams of silver, or anything worth that much. With one dirham at 3.0618 g, that is 30.618 g of silver. If a smaller amount is named, the marriage is valid and the mahr becomes 10 dirhams. The evidence is a hadith of Jabir, "There is no mahr less than ten dirhams" in ad-Daraqutni and al-Bayhaqi, whose chain is weak, supported by reports from Ali and by analogy with the 10 dirhams that is the Hanafi threshold for theft.1
Other madhhabs
- Maliki
- A quarter of a gold dinar or 3 dirhams of silver, or goods worth that. With the same weights, about 1.09 g of gold or 9.19 g of silver.
- Shafi'i, Hanbali
- There is no set minimum. Anything with value that can be sold, or a service such as teaching Quran, is valid. The Prophet ﷺ told a poor man, "Look for something, even an iron ring."2
How many grams? Checking the figures
The Hanafi nisab of zakat is 200 dirhams = 612.36 g of silver, the figure Darul Uloom Deoband and most Hanafi institutions use. So one dirham is 612.36 ÷ 200 = 3.0618 g. Then 10 dirhams = 30.618 g and 500 dirhams = 1,530.9 g. Fatawa Darul Uloom Zakariyya gives the minimum as 30.615 g, the same to two decimals. Some older South Asian works use a heavier dirham of 3.4 g, which makes the minimum about 34 g.3
| Amount | Dirhams | Silver | Tola |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hanafi minimum | 10 | 30.618 g | 2.625 |
| Mahr Fatimi (500 dirhams) | 500 | 1,530.9 g | 131.25 |
| Mahr Fatimi (480 dirhams) | 480 | 1,469.66 g | 126 |
| Mahr Fatimi (400 mithqal) | about 571 | 1,749.6 g | 150 |
Mahr Fatimi: why there are three figures
Aishah said the mahr the Prophet ﷺ gave his wives was twelve and a half uqiyah, which is 500 dirhams.4 Many scholars take this as the mahr of his daughters too, so 500 dirhams (1,530.9 g) is used by Mufti Muhammad Shafi, Mufti Mahmud Gangohi and others. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi and others give 480 dirhams (1,469.66 g). Fatawa Rahimiyyah prefers 400 mithqal (about 1,750 g) as the cautious view. No authentic hadith fixes Fatimah's exact amount: Ali gave his armour as her mahr.5 So the Mahr Fatimi is a blessed and moderate amount, not a requirement. Pick the view your local scholars follow in the calculator.
Prompt (muajjal) and deferred (muakhkhar) mahr
Muajjal (prompt) mahr is paid at the nikah or when the wife asks for it. Muakhkhar (deferred) mahr is paid later, at a time agreed in the contract, and at the latest on divorce or death. Many families split it, for example half and half.
Hanafi position
The mahr may be all prompt, all deferred, or split. The wife may refuse to move in with her husband until the prompt part is paid. Deferred mahr is a debt on the husband: on divorce it becomes due, and on his death it is paid from his estate before the inheritance is shared. Unpaid mahr is treated like any other debt.6
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Maliki, Hanbali
- Splitting the mahr is also allowed. The Maliki school does not accept deferring it to an unknown time, such as "until death or divorce", and wants a set date.
If no mahr was named
The nikah is still valid. The wife is owed mahr al-mithl, the usual mahr of women like her in her father's family, of similar age, looks, character and education. If the marriage ends by divorce before consummation, she is owed half of a named mahr, or a gift (mutah) if none was named.
Writing the mahr down
Write the full mahr, how much is prompt and when the deferred part is due in the nikah certificate, signed by both witnesses. A mahr in grams of gold or silver keeps its value better than a fixed sum of money. In the US and the UK, courts do not always enforce a mahr written only in an Islamic certificate, so ask a lawyer whether to add it to a prenuptial or civil agreement.
- Al-Marghinani, al-Hidayah, Bab al-Mahr; Ibn Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar. The hadith is in Sunan ad-Daraqutni and al-Bayhaqi, from Jabir; weak.
- Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, from Sahl ibn Sad.
- Mufti Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, Jadeed Fiqhi Masail 1/196; Fatawa Darul Uloom Zakariyya 3/624; Ahsan al-Fatawa 5/32. Summarised from the comparison by Tafseer Raheemi (islamqa.org) and Darul Iftaa Birmingham.
- Sahih Muslim, from Aishah.
- Sunan Abi Dawud and Sunan an-Nasai, from Ibn Abbas and Ali.
- Al-Hidayah; Fatawa Darul Uloom Deoband 8/336. The other madhhabs' positions are summarised from their standard manuals.
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.
Questions
Good to know.
What is the minimum mahr in Islam?
In the Hanafi school, 10 dirhams of silver, about 30.618 g. The calculator shows what that is worth today in your currency. The Maliki minimum is 3 dirhams or a quarter dinar, and the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools have no set minimum.
How much is Mahr Fatimi today?
Mahr Fatimi is 500 dirhams, about 1,530.9 g of silver, in the most used view. Its value in money changes with the silver price, so see the calculator above for today's figure. Some scholars use 480 dirhams (1,469.66 g).
What is the difference between mahr and dowry?
Mahr is paid by the husband to the wife and is hers alone. A dowry, in many cultures, is paid by the bride's family to the groom, which is not part of Islam.
Can mahr be paid later?
Yes. Deferred (muakhkhar) mahr is paid at an agreed later time, and becomes due at the latest on divorce or death, when it is taken from the husband's estate before inheritance.
Can the mahr be something other than money?
Yes: gold, silver, property, or anything of value. In the Shafi'i and Hanbali schools it can be teaching the wife some of the Quran. The Hanafi school requires it to be property worth at least 10 dirhams.
Can a wife give back her mahr?
Yes, if she chooses to, freely and without pressure (Quran 4:4).