Viral video: Pakistani bride demands books worth Rs 1 lakh as ‘Haq Mehr’

Islamabad: Breaking traditions, a newly-wed bride from Pakistan is winning applause online for her unique demand as Haq Mehr in which sought books worth Rs 1 lakh. Haq Mehr ( or Mehr) is the gift that Muslim women get from the groom’s side as gift on their wedding and is usually given in form of cash or gold jewellry.

In a viral video that has been doing rounds on internet Naila Shamal from Pakistan’s Mardan city can be seen making the unique demand on her Nikaah. In the clip, Shamal, who is a writer by profession, gives a strong message to eliminate wrong customs from the society and said that she wanted to inspire others to make such changes.

She says, “As you all know, I have demanded books worth Rs100,000 for Haq Mehr. One reason for this is that due to rising inflation in our country, we cannot afford expensive gifts. On the other hand, it is also important to eliminate wrong customs from our society.”

Naila Shamal also said even though taking jewellery or cash as Mehr is as the custom, but she decided to to ask for books as she felt that it was important to show importance to books. “If being a writer we don’t value books, how can we expect a common man to do so?” she says in the video. “If I, as a writer, do not attach value to books then how can we expect the common man to do so?”

The video of Naila Shamal, was shared to Twitter by a person named Mona Farooq Ahmad, and it has been getting a lot of of attention. Check out the video and netizens are reacting to it:

https://twitter.com/IjazANadeem/status/1371634695901962244

In a similar case from 2019, 24-year-old bride, Ajna Nazim from Kerala also broke the traditions and demanded 100 books from her husband as Haq Mehr from her husband.