Kitab-i-Aqdas/Elder66/Note2

The dowry is the money which the husband gives to the wife (cf. Enc. of Islam, iii, 137). Often in Islam the parents of the bride require the groom to promise a large sum and write it in the marriage contract, but they do not ask him to pay it at once. In case he should wish to divorce the woman, she would demand that the mahr be first given to her, in this way protecting herself from divorce - since in Islamic law the right to divorce belongs entirely to the man, who can divorce at will for any cause. Baha'u'llah follows the Islamic custom of requiring the mahr, fixing the amount between nineteen and ninety-five mithqals of gold for city dwellers, and the same amount of silver for villagers. (See Note 1, p.38, for value of the mithqal).