A Jurisprudential Examination of Stipulating Mahr Payment Subject to Financial Ability

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Assistant Professor of Law,Faculty of social Science, University of Teheran, Tehran, Iran

2 PhD Student, Department of private law, Faculty law, University of Emam sadegh, Tehran, Iran

10.22091/rcjl.2026.13133.1208

Abstract

One of the pre-printed clauses contained in the marriage certificate provides that the Mahr shall be payable either on demand (ʿinda al-muṭālabah) or subject to the husband's financial ability (ʿinda al-istiṭāʿah). Where the spouses agree that payment of the Mahr shall be contingent upon the husband's financial ability, the wife may not compel him to discharge the obligation before he acquires the requisite financial capacity. In light of the increasing amounts of Mahr stipulated in contemporary society and the consequences that the enforcement of such substantial Mahr obligations has had on family life, there has been a growing tendency to incorporate this clause into marriage certificates, and some couples have agreed to its inclusion. The clause under consideration has only recently emerged within the Iranian legal system, and considerable disagreement exists among legal scholars regarding its legal nature and validity. Some regard it as invalid and as rendering the Mahr itself invalid, whereas others maintain that it is valid and enforceable. In the present study, the authors seek to clarify the nature and validity of this clause through a descriptive-analytical methodology, drawing upon jurisprudential and legal sources and utilizing library-based research. The findings indicate that stipulating the payment of Mahr subject to financial ability constitutes an indeterminate condition because the time at which the husband attains financial capacity remains unknown. Consequently, the Mahr becomes affected by gharar (legal uncertainty), rendering it a gharar-based obligation. Therefore, in accordance with legal principles and jurisprudential standards, such a condition is invalid and devoid of legal effect.

Keywords

 نتیجه

حقوقدانان در خصوص اعتبار و ماهیت شرط پرداخت مهر به‌نحو عندالاستطاعه -که از دهه ۸۰ وارد سند چاپی ازدواج شده- نظر واحدی ندارند. برخی چنین شرطی را موجب مؤجل شدن مهر دانسته‌اند و ازآنجایی‌که زمان حدوث استطاعت زوج کاملاً مجهول و غیرقابل پیش‌بینی است، آن را موجب غرری شدن و بطلان مهر می‌دانند.

در مقابل، برخی هم شرط عندالاستطاعه بودن تأدیه مهر را نوعی امهال عرفی به‌منظور تساهل در پرداخت مهر قلمداد کرده‌اند. با توجه به این‌که در این حالت نیز زمان حدوث استطاعت کاملاً مجهول است، این نظر هم قابل پذیرش نیست. نظر دیگری نیز مطرح است که شرط عندالاستطاعه بودن پرداخت مهر را موجب تعلیق (تقیید) می‌داند. این نظر هم به دلیل سابق و نامعلوم بودن زمان حصول معلق‌علیه، قابل پذیرش نیست.

خلاصه آنکه همه ماهیت‌های محتملی که برای مهریه عندالاستطاعه معرفی شده، با نقدهای جدی روبه‌روست و حقیقتاً باید آن را باطل دانست. صرفاً در مواقعی که زمان حصول استطاعت معلوم است، هرچند که این زمان غیردقیق و اجمالی باشد، می‌توان آن را صحیح قلمداد نمود. بنابراین پیشنهاد می‌شود که شرط مورد بحث در سند ازدواج مورد اصلاح و بازبینی قرار گیرد، یا به‌کلی از سند ازدواج حذف شود.

References

The Holy Qur’an
ʿAlidūst, Abū al-Qāsim. (1382 SH). “Qāʿideh-yi Nafy-i Gharar dar Muʿāmalāt.” Journal of Iqtiṣād-i Islāmī, 3(9), 89–106. [In Persian].
ʿĀmilī (Shahīd Thānī), Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAli. (1410 AH). Al-Rawḍah al-Bahiyyah fī Sharḥ al-Lumʿah al-Dimashqiyyah (al-Muḥashshā Kalāntar). Qom: Kitābfurūshī-yi Dāvarī. [In Arabic].
ʿĀmilī, Zayn al-Dīn ibn ʿAli [Shahīd Thānī]. (1413 AH). Masālik al-Afhām ilā Tanqīḥ Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām. Qom: Muʾassasat al-Maʿārif al-Islāmiyyah. [In Arabic].
Āqāyī Bujistānī, Maryam; Rūḥānī Muqaddam, Muḥammad. (1396 SH). “Taʾammulī dar Mehrīyeh-yi Ghararī bā Rūvikardī bih Sharṭ-i ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿah.” Fiqhī Research Journal, 13(2), 321–329. [In Persian].
Bujnūrdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥasan. (1377 SH). Al-Qawāʿid al-Fiqhiyyah. Qom: Dār al-Fikr. [In Arabic].
Burūjirdī, Āqā Ḥusayn. (1386 SH). Jāmiʿ Aḥādīth al-Shīʿah. Tehran: Intishārāt-i Farhang-i Sabz. [In Arabic].
Fāḍil Lankarānī, Muḥammad. (1421 AH). Tafṣīl al-Sharīʿah fī Sharḥ Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah: al-Nikāḥ. Qom: Markaz-i Fiqh-i Aʾimmah al-Aṭhār (ʿa.s.). [In Arabic].
Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. (1388 AH). Tadhkirat al-Fuqahāʾ. Qom: Āl al-Bayt (ʿa.s.) Institute. [In Arabic].
Ḥillī, Ḥasan ibn Yūsuf. (n.d.). Taḥrīr al-Aḥkām al-Sharʿiyyah ʿalā Madhhab al-Imāmiyyah. Mashhad: Āl al-Bayt (ʿa.s.) Institute. [In Arabic].
Ibn Bābawayh, Muḥammad ibn ʿAli. (1378 AH). ʿUyūn Akhbār al-Riḍā. Tehran: Jahān Publications. [In Arabic].
Ibn Barrāj, al-Qāḍī ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz. (1406 AH). Al-Muhadhdhab. Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī. [In Arabic].
Ibn Manẓūr, Muḥammad ibn Mukarram. (1414 AH). Lisān al-ʿArab. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir. [In Arabic].
Īrawānī, Muḥammad Bāqir. (1392 SH). Durūs Tamhīdiyyah fī al-Fiqh al-Istidlālī. Qom: Hājir Publications. [In Arabic].
Jaʿfarī Langarūdī, Muḥammad Jaʿfar. (1386 SH). Dowreh-yi Mutawassiṭeh-yi Ḥuqūq-i Madanī: Ḥuqūq-i Khānuvādeh. N.p.: Ganj-i Dānish Library. [In Persian].
Kātūziyān, Nāṣir. (1382 SH). Ḥuqūq-i Khānuvādeh. Tehran: Shirkat-i Sahāmī-yi Intishār. [In Persian].
Kātūziyān, Nāṣir. (1388 SH). Khānuvādeh: Nikāḥ va Ṭalāq. Tehran: Shirkat-i Sahāmī-yi Intishār. [In Persian].
Khoei, Sayyid Abū al-Qāsim. (1368 SH). Miṣbāḥ al-Fiqāhah fī al-Muʿāmalāt. Qom: Wijdānī Publications. [In Arabic].
Makārim Shīrāzī, Nāṣir. (1424 AH). Al-Nikāḥ. Qom: Madrasah-yi Imam ʿAli ibn Abī Ṭālib (ʿa.s.) Publications. [In Arabic].
Maqrī al-Fayyūmī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. (1404 AH). Al-Miṣbāḥ al-Munīr (1st ed.). Qom: Dār al-Raḍī Publications. [In Arabic].
Marāghī, Mīr ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ. (1350 AH). Al-ʿAnāwīn al-Fiqhiyyah. N.p.: N.p. [In Arabic].
Mīrzā-yi Qummī, Abū al-Qāsim. (1413 AH). Jāmiʿ al-Shatāt (1st ed.). Tehran: Kayhān Publications. [In Arabic].
Mousavi Khomeini, Sayyid Ruhullah. (1390 AH). Taḥrīr al-Wasīlah. Qom: Ismāʿīliyān Publications. [In Arabic].
Muhājirī, Maryam. (1401 SH). “ʿAdam-i Taʿyīn-i Mehr dar ʿAqd-i Nikāḥ va Taʾthīr-i Ān bar Ḥaqq-i Ḥabs bā Nigāhī bih Fiqh-i Farīqayn.” Journal of Āmūzeh-hā-yi Ḥuqūq-i Khuṣūṣī-yi Kishvarhā-yi Islāmī, 1(3), 51–66. [In Persian].
Muḥaqqiq Dāmād, Sayyid Muṣṭafā. (n.d.). Barresī-yi Fiqhī-yi Ḥuqūq-i Khānuvādeh: Nikāḥ va Inḥilāl-i Ān. Qom: N.p. [In Persian].
Muḥaqqiq Ḥillī, Jaʿfar ibn Ḥasan. (1408 AH). Sharāʾiʿ al-Islām fī Masāʾil al-Ḥalāl wa al-Ḥarām. Qom: Ismāʿīliyān Publications. [In Arabic].
Muʿtamadī, Javād. (1398 SH). “Ḥaqq-i Ḥabs-i Zawjeh bā Vujūd-i Sharṭ-i ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh Būdan-i Mehr.”  Journal of Raʾy: Muṭālaʿah-yi Ārāʾ-yi Qaḍāʾī, (29), 47–57. [In Persian].
Najafī, Muḥammad Ḥasan. (1404 AH). Jawāhir al-Kalām (7th ed.). Beirut: Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī. [In Arabic].
Qāḍī Nuʿmān al-Maghribī, Abū Ḥanīfah. (1385 AH). Daʿāʾim al-Islām. Qom: Āl al-Bayt (ʿa.s.) Institute. [In Arabic].
Qāniʿ, Aḥmad ʿAli; Mousavi Miṣbāḥ al-Sharīʿah, Aḥmad Reza. (1401 SH). ʿAdam-i Jaryān-i Ḥaqq-i Ḥabs dar Izdivāj. Journal of Muṭālaʿāt-i Fiqhī-Ḥuqūqī-yi Zan va Khānuvādeh, 5(9), 58–106. [In Persian].
Rafīʿī ʿAlawī, Sayyid Iḥsān; Mahjoub, Saeid. (1396 SH). “Taḥlīl-i Athar-i Qayd-i ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh dar Ārāʾ-yi Maḥākim az Dū Manẓar-i Māhiyyat-i Mehrīyah va Ḥaqq-i Ḥabs-i Zawjeh”. Journal of Raʾy: Muṭālaʿāt-i Ārāʾ-yi Qaḍāʾī, (21), 111–125. [In Persian].
Ṣābirī Majd, Aḥmad; Āhangarān, Muḥammad Rasūl; and Mīrī, Mahdī. (1404 SH). “Bāz-Pazhūhishī-yi Ḥaqq-i Faskh-i Nikāḥ-i Afrād-i Nābāligh Pas az Bulūgh dar Fiqh-i Muqāran.” Journal of New Issues in Islamic Jurisprudence, 3(1). doi:10.22091/rcjl.2025.11760.1091. [In Persian].
Saʿīd, Muḥammad ʿAli; Wahhab-Zadeh, Sayyid ʿAbbās ʿAli. (1389 SH). “Barresī-yi Sharṭ-i ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh dar Mehrīyeh.” Journal of Āmūzeh-hā-yi Ḥuqūq-i Kayfarī, 7(13), 61–82. [In Persian].
Sārdūʾī Nasab, Muḥammad. (1388 SH). “Taḥlīl-i Ḥuqūqī-yi Mehrīyah-yi ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh yā ʿInd al-Muṭālabeh.” Journal of Muṭālaʿāt-i Rāhburdī-yi Zanān, 11(43), 185–214. [In Persian].
Shahīdī, Mahdī. (1377 SH). Tashkīl-i Qarārdād-hā va Taʿahhudāt. Tehran: Ḥuqūqdān Publications. [In Persian].
Shāhnūsh Furūshānī, Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Ṣāliḥ. (1395 SH). “Athar-i Qayd-i ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh bar Ḥaqq-i Ḥabs.”  Journal of Raʾy: Muṭālaʿāt-i Ārāʾ-yi Qaḍāʾī, 5(16), 85–93. [In Persian].
Shaykh Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. (1406 AH). Al-Nikāḥ (1st ed.). Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī. [In Arabic].
Shaykh Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. (1415 AH). Al-Makāsib al-Muḥarramah (1st ed.). N.p.: N.p. [In Arabic].
Shaykh Anṣārī, Murtaḍā. (1415 AH). Al-Makāsib. Qom: World Congress Commemorating Shaykh Anṣārī. [In Arabic].
Shaykh Mufīd, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad. (1413 AH). Risālah fī al-Mahr. Qom: Shaykh Mufīd (r) World Hazara Congress. [In Arabic].
Shikārī, Rowshan ʿAli; Shīʿah-ʿAli, ʿAli; Godarzī, Ilhām. (1395 SH). “Mehrīyah-yi ʿInd al-Istiṭāʿeh dar Fiqh-i Madhāhib-i Islāmī va Ḥuqūq-i Iran.” Journal of Muṭālaʿāt-i Taqrībī-yi Madhāhib-i Islāmī (Furūgh-i Vaḥdat), 11(44), 40–54. [In Persian].
Ṭūsī, Muḥammad ibn Ḥasan. (1407 AH). Al-Khilāf. Qom: Intishārāt-i Islāmī. [In Arabic].
 

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 07 June 2025
  • Revise Date: 17 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 21 February 2026

Share

How to cite

Statistics