Musnad Ahmad 285

Translation

✧ Beware of charging excessive dowries for women, beware of charging excessive dowries for women. If it were a source of honor in this world or piety before God, the Prophet ﷺ would have been foremost among you in it. The Messenger of God ﷺ never paid more than twelve uqiyyahs as a dowry for any of his wives, nor was any of his daughters given a dowry of more than twelve uqiyyahs. A man is indeed tested by the dowry of his wife, and he said once: A man indeed raises the dowry of his wife excessively until she becomes an enemy in his heart, and until he says, 'I have burdened myself for you with the strap of the waterskin.'" He said: "I was a young Arab born in Madinah, and I did not know what 'the strap of the waterskin' meant." He said: "And another thing you say about those killed in your battles, [or who died]: 'So-and-so was killed as a martyr,' or 'So-and-so died as a martyr,' when perhaps he had loaded the back of his beast, or the saddle of his mount, with gold or silver seeking trade. Do not say that, but say as the Prophet said—or as Muhammad ﷺ said—'Whoever is killed or dies in the cause of God is in Paradise.'

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