Question:
Can the groom’s family insist on an expensive wedding gifts?
Answer:
Islamic marriages are not costly for the girls or their families. From the Islamic viewpoint, it is the groom who should pay the mahr [dowry] to his bride so that the marriage can go through. Moreover, he has to provide her with a home and look after her. Social traditions in some parts of the Muslim world have made marriage a difficult task for either one of the two parties or both. Islam is not responsible for that. The community should change its traditions and bring them in line with Islamic teachings. We should not make Islamic legislation subservient to social traditions. If, according to the traditions of certain Muslim societies, a girl should give her husband some articles of gold upon her marriage, we should make it clear that this is not part of an Islamic marriage.
