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Fatwa CenterHis mother-in-law urged his wife to ask him for a new dowry
Question
salam brother. I gived my wife first time money for mahr the money she wanted and she was happy after when her mum came to visite us she was unhappy for the money and asked my wife to ask me for more moneymy wife she asked me to do a new mahr again to make her mum happy and I did the 2nd mahr was £6000. wish one is the correct?salam jzk ALLAH.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
There is no fixed amount of dowry in Sharee'ah, but some scholars 
considered its minimum amount to be a quarter of a Dinaar (a Dinaar is a gold coin equivalent to 4.25 grams) or three Dirhams (a dirham is a silver coin equivalent to 2.975 grams); but according to the most preponderant opinion, there is no minimum or maximum limit of its amount. The evidence is the Hadeeth in which the Prophet said (to a companion): “Go again and search for something, even if it were an iron ring.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]; and the saying of Allaah (which means): {…and you have given one of them a great amount [in gifts], do not take [back] from it anything.}[Quran 4:20] For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90124.
Furthermore, the dowry is the absolute right of the wife, so, if she has agreed with her husband at the time of the marriage contract on a particular amount, then this is the only dowry he is obliged to pay her, and she has no right to ask for more than that. Besides, the wife's mother has no right to interfere in this matter and incite her daughter to ask for more, and the husband is not obliged to pay this additional amount to her.
In any case, since you are not obligated to pay another amount (as dowry to your wife) because there was an agreement on the first amount, or because the first amount was the dowry of women of the same social status like her in case the dowry was not specified, and you had already given her another amount of your own free will, then she may benefit from it.
Finally, we advise both families of the spouses not to interfere in their marital life except with something that leads to harmony between them and not with what leads to dissension.
Allaah Knows best.
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