Mahr is not a dowry, and talaq is not just “divorce”

When an Arabic-speaking client describes a marriage, a divorce or the care of a child, the words often come from the personal status law of their country of origin. A loose English rendering can change what the record appears to say. I am a language specialist, not a lawyer or an Islamic law scholar, so my concern here is the word, not the law.

Five terms that are easy to flatten

• Mahr (المهر) is not a dowry. Mahr is given by the groom to the bride. In English, “dowry” usually suggests a payment from the bride’s family. Mahr may be prompt (المقدَّم), deferred (المؤخَّر), or both, and the amount and currency should stay exactly as spoken.
• Talaq, khul‘, tatliq and faskh are all “divorce” in loose English. They work differently. Talaq (الطلاق) is pronounced by the husband; khul‘ (الخُلع) is a divorce at the wife’s request in return for giving up financial rights; tatliq is ordered by a judge; faskh ends the marriage contract. If the speaker says only طلاق, the record should say only that.
• Hadana, wilaya and “custody”. Hadana (الحضانة) is the day-to-day care of a young child; wilaya (الولاية) is guardianship. English proceedings now speak of child arrangements, so an English “custody” in a record can hide which of the two was meant.
• Nikah and ‘aqd. Nikah (النكاح) is the marriage contract. ‘Aqd (عقد) means contract and is also used for the certificate. Neither word says whether the marriage was registered or whether a civil ceremony took place, so the record should not fill that gap.
• Kafala is not adoption. Kafala (الكفالة) is the care of a child without creating lineage. In Gulf usage the same word also means employer sponsorship. English “adoption” transfers legal parenthood and should not be used for kafala.

Three checks before relying on a translation or record

• Put the Arabic term beside the English. Where a key word matters, ask for the Arabic in brackets in the record, so a later reader can see which concept was meant.
• Keep the exact words for talaq. The record should show the verb used and how many times it was said, not a summary such as “they divorced”. Whether a valid talaq took place is a question for the court, not for the translator.
• Check dates, amounts and spelling. Marriage and divorce dates are often given in the Hijri calendar (see when a “contradictory” date isn’t a contradiction). Mahr is often stated in a currency or in gold, and should not be converted. A message in Latin letters can spell the same word several ways, such as talaq, tlag or 6alaq.

A free glossary

I have published a free English–Arabic glossary of 77 Islamic family law terms, with transliteration, an interpreter’s watch-list and the English family court terms most often confused with them. Search it online or download the PDF. It is terminology only: not legal advice, and not expert evidence on Islamic law.

If a record or translation already exists

If an interview record or translation has already been produced and one of these terms looks wrong, an Arabic interview record review checks the English line by line against the Arabic. It is a linguistic review for the instructing solicitor’s consideration, not expert evidence. See also Arabic family court work.