Ubayd said: All of this belongs to the woman. Al-Shafi'i said: If he does that, she is entitled to the 'dowry of an equal', and the designation is invalid; because he reduced her dowry for the sake of this invalid condition; because the dowry is not mandatory except for the wife, as it is the compensation for her sexual access, so it remains unknown; because we need to add to the dowry what was reduced from it for the sake of this condition, and that is unknown, so it becomes invalid. Our argument is the statement of Allah the Almighty in the story of Shu'ayb, peace be upon him: {I wish to marry you to one of my two daughters on the condition that you work for me for eight years}. He made the dowry the labor for tending his sheep, and it was a condition for himself. Furthermore, the father is entitled to take from his child's wealth, evidenced by the saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "You and your wealth belong to your father," and his saying: "Your children are from the best of your earnings, so eat from their wealth." Abu Dawud recorded it, and al-Tirmidhi recorded something similar and said: It is a good (hasan) hadith. So if he stipulates something from the dowry for himself, it is a taking from his daughter's wealth, and he is entitled to that. Their claim that it is an invalid condition is refuted. The Qadi said: Even if he stipulated the entire dowry for himself, it would be valid, evidenced by the story of Shu'ayb, for he stipulated the entirety for himself. And if he marries her for a thousand for her and a thousand for her father, then she is divorced before consummation, the husband returns to her for half of what she took, and the father is not liable for anything of what he took; because divorce before consummation necessitates half the dowry, and the two thousand are her entire dowry, so he returns to her for half of them, which is one thousand, and the father is not liable for anything because he took one thousand from his daughter's wealth, so it is not permissible to seek return of it from him. This is in the case where he had already handed her the two thousand. If he divorced her before he handed them over, one thousand is dropped from the husband's obligation, and one thousand remains owed by him to the wife, from which the father takes what he wishes. The Qadi said: It is divided between them in halves. And he said: