Jurisprudential-Legal Dos of Delegating the Determination of Marriage Portion to Third Persons from the Perspective of Islamic Citizenship Rights

Amongst the financial rights a man should pay to his wife is marriage portion which is not enumerated as one of the primary pillars of permanent marriage contracts and it is not to be necessarily determined and mentioned in the instant of the contract’s conclusion. The present study aims at the jurisprudential-legal investigation of delegating the determination of marriage portion to third persons from the perspective of the Islamic citizenship rights. The study’s pivotal question is that how the marriage portion’s delegation can be rendered consistent with the Islamic citizenship rights? In other words, what are the most important jurisprudential and legal reasons justifying the delegation of marriage portion’s determination to a third persons?

The present study is a review that uses documentary and library researches as its sources which will be analyzed based on qualitative-descriptive method. Thus, the article’s method is descriptive-analytical.

Delegating the determination of marriage portion to a third person can be done during and even after concluding the marriage contract and, as put by jurisprudents, it is in this case termed the delegated determination of marriage portion. Couples have certain rights for delegating the determination of the marriage portion as stated, saying, in article 1089 of the civil law and they can have their rights fulfilled based on the duties and commitments explicated for the third person and it is in this respect no barrier to their rights’ fulfillment. Moreover, delegating the determination of marriage portion to a third person should pave the way for the family formation as a sacred tradition in Islam.

In regard of delegating the marriage portion’s determination to a third person, a woman can enjoy all her rights in respect to the marriage portion hence the economic aspect of her citizenship rights is observed; however, if the issue is interpreted as a marriage contract without determination of any marriage portion, it would be a wastage of the wife’s rights. Therefore, the non-determination of marriage portion and the delegation of marriage portion’s determination differ in that the wife’s rights persist in the marriage contract in the latter while her rights are discarded in the former. Therefore, accepting the right of delegating the marriage portion’s determination to a third person, a woman only grants him or her the right of clarifying and determining her marriage portion and the marriage portion remains as a right for her. Thus, from the perspective of the Islamic citizenship rights, marriage portion is a woman’s right whether an agreement is found reached thereon or not.