Dowry of a Virgin Wife in Case of a Spouse’s Death

Mahr (dowry) or sadaq is regarded as one of the results of permanent marriage, as a financial right which is paid for spiritual purposes, including glorification of the wife, kindness, and chastity, and as soon as the amount of dowry is determined and the marriage officiated, the husband is obliged to pay it. There is consensus among jurists that the wife becomes entitled to the whole dowry after permanent marriage, but they have different opinions about the conditions that validate a full dowry; all of them agree that one of the conditions is sexual intercourse; therefore, if divorce takes place before any intercourse is performed, half of the dowry is given back to the husband. Disagreement comes in the case of the death of one of the spouses before intercourse; the well-known opinion appends the death to intercourse and assigns full dowry, but the opinion of most famous Shiite jurists appends the death before intercourse to divorce and assigns half dowry; Iran’s civil law refers to the well-known opinion in this issue. By considering and investigating the foundations and reasons of both opinions, this article seriously criticizes the opinion of full dowry and recognizes the opinion of half dowry to have solid proofs. This article could be a useful solution in order to modify the civil law and decrease the debtors of dowry especially in the case of the death of one of the spouses as an uncalled-for circumstance.