Mahr: A Symbol of Aristocracy!

Abstract

Mahr is an important concept of Muslim marriage, which signifies a Muslim woman's importance to her husband. Muslim women do not enjoy the rights of Mahr unless any extreme situations do occur such as divorce, death of husband where the wife may demand mahr. Muslim women are not conscious about their mahr; moreover those who show interest are identified as hampering social values. 1 Recently, inconsistent fixation of mahr became marriage culture in many societies; especially in urban marriages. Fixation of high amount of mahr bevond the capability of a bridegroom is now treating as element of maintaining social status. To uphold the family, societal so-called status, fixation of inconsistent amount of moharana is increasing in urban areas of Bangladesh. Actually, an attempt has been made in this study to pin point the Muslim marriage payment-niahr and tried to show how niahr is used as an important medium of maintaining family and societal status in urban Dhaka.