The Quran

Preface

وَإِن فاتَكُم شَيءٌ مِن أَزواجِكُم إِلَى الكُفّارِ فَعاقَبتُم فَآتُوا الَّذينَ ذَهَبَت أَزواجُهُم مِثلَ ما أَنفَقوا ۚ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذي أَنتُم بِهِ مُؤمِنونَ

Yusuf Ali

And if any of your wives deserts you to the Unbelievers,¹ and ye have an accession (by the coming over of a woman from the other side), then pay to those whose wives have deserted the equivalent of what they had spent (on their dower). And fear God, in Whom ye believe.

A very unlikely contingency, considering how much better position the women occupied in Islam than under Pagan custom. But all contingencies have to be provided for equitably in legislation. If a woman went over to the Pagans, her dower would be recoverable from the Pagans and payable to the deserted husband. If a woman came over from the Pagans, her dower would be payable to the Pagans. Assuming that the two dowers were equal, the one would be set off against the other as between the two communities; but within the communities the deserted individual would be compensated by the individual who gains a wife. If the dowers were unequal, the balance would be recoverable as between the communities, and the adjustment would then be made as between the individuals. In practice the common Fund compensated the deserted husband in anticipation of any necessary adjustments.