Refusing to Return Borrowed Jewellery

Question

According to the established customs of the “Muslim Marwari Silawat Jamaat” community, the Shariah ruling on gold jewelry given or worn to the bride as “Aariyah” (i.e., merely for use) during wedding and engagement occasions in the form of Offerings / Salami and Face Unveiling.

Personal Information Of The Questioner

I am a resident of Gazdarabad, Karachi, Pakistan. I belong to the “Muslim Marwari Silawat Jamaat” community. My wife also belongs to our community, and my wife is also a resident of Gazdarabad, Karachi, Pakistan.

Details Of The Community’s Custom

In our “Muslim Marwari Silawat Jamaat” community, it is a custom that during engagement and wedding, gold jewelry is given to the girl by the boy’s side as Aariyah, merely for ceremonial use. The girl is not made the owner of these jewelry items; rather, they remain the property of the boy’s side. Similarly, gold is given to the boy by the girl’s side as Aariyah, but he is not made the owner.

Issue Of Borrowed Jewelry

Now the issue is that my wife has already taken back the gold given to me as aariyah by her family, but the gold that my mother gave to my wife as aariyah for mere ceremonial use, my wife is refusing to return it to my mother. My wife claims that this gold is her gift and her right, whereas we never gifted these gold jewelry items to my wife, nor did I give this gold to my wife as part of her dower (mahr).

Darul Ifta, Madrasah Urwah bin Az-Zubayr · Accepted Answer

As salām ʿalaikum wa raḥmatullāhī wa barakātuhu

In the Name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Brother in Islām,

It should be noted that a fatwā cannot change ḥarām into ḥalāl and vice versa. If the gold jewellery was gifted to your wife by your mother or if it was part of the mahr (dowry), she will be the rightful owner of it and she cannot be coerced into returning the jewellery.

If, however, the jewellery was truly lent to your wife, as you have stated, to use for the ceremony, she will be obliged to return it to your mother. In this case it will not be permissible for her to keep it. If she does not return it, she will be guilty of usurping wealth and will be sinful.

Abū Umāmah رضي الله عنه said:

I heard the Prophet ﷺ say during the sermon in the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage:

“A borrowed item must be returned”

And Allāh Taʿālā knows best.

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