Marriage contract

This is the marriage contract of a couple, Muhmamad Baqir Khan and Setareh Khanum.The document, written in Persian, has 11 lines of script written in black while Qur'anic verses are highlighted in red. The document is illuminated in gold. In Islam, marriage is a social contract between a man and a woman. When signed in front of witnesses, this contract is known as nikah. These contracts detail the dowry that the husband-to-be pays to the bride. This amount forms the bride’s personal property, to which her husband has no legal right.