My big fat Arab dowry: Iraq's most expensive marriage endowment

An Iraqi man on Monday paid his future wife $8 million in dowry, considered the highest amount in Iraq’s history.

The 33-year-old woman, who is divorced and has two children, will receive $3 million prior to the marriage and the rest to be paid after the wedding, an official court document shared on social media revealed.

The bridegroom, 35, undertook to look after the bride’s two children.

The rare and unprecedented incidence filled Iraqis with wonder an astonishment as dowries in the country usually oscillate between $4000 and $8000.

Dowry, or Mahr, is a mandatory payment – which can be in the form of money or possessions – that a bridegroom pays to a bride at the time of marriage.

Women in the region have been traditionally financially dependent and their families tend to demand future husbands offer a number of financial guarantees.