What are the Sharī‘a-compliant solutions to account for a wife’s financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage?

The Sharī‘a is anchored in divine justice and equity. There are several solutions to protect a wife’s financial security by accounting for her financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage.

First, Muslim scholars agree that a husband is free to voluntarily increase his wife’s mahr during the marriage. The mahr, or dowry, is a financial obligation that a groom must give a bride when they conclude the marriage contract. Any property of value can be a mahr. A woman’s mahr automatically becomes her separate property and is considered a debt upon the husband’s estate. Because the mahr is a debt upon the husband, the mahr must be paid from the gross estate before the prescribed shares are distributed to the Islamic heirs. So a wife will receive her mahr from the estate, plus her Qur’anic prescribed share.

Many Muslim scholars also agree that a husband is free to record in his will a moral/religious debt to compensate his wife for her financial and non-financial contributions to the marriage.

This moral/religious debt is paid from the gross estate as a debt before distributing the net estate to the Islamic heirs. So a wife will receive this moral/religious debt, plus her Qur’anic prescribed share.

To better understand moral/religious debts, let us review a story about an inheritance dispute that ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭtāb resolved: A husband passed away with no children. Strictly speaking, the wife’s inheritance would be 1/4. The widow asked ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭtāb for a ruling. She said: “Ameer Al Mu’mieen, you know that my husband and I worked together in the business. I would stay up all night sewing and making the clothing that my husband would sell in the market.” Al-Khaṭtāb gave her 1/2 of the estate for all her work, plus 1/4 for her prescribed share.

So husbands may leave their wives a moral/religious debt and/or increase their wives’ mahrs on top of their prescribed share. We do not believe this violates the Sharī‘a. Allah knows best.

To better protect the financial security of your wife should you predecease her, use our ISLAMIC WILL software to prepare your own customized, Sharī‘a-compliant estate plan that is legally valid for your state, which will allow you to increase your wife’s mahr and/or acknowledge a moral/religious debt owed to her.