100 books is all she wanted as Mehr on Nikah: Kerala man's gift to his wife floors guests

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 23: No gold or cash. Breaking the convention, 24-year-old Ajna Nazim, who recently got married to 26-year-old Ijas Hakkim, asked for books as 'mehr' ( which is usually a large sum of money or possessions that a Muslim man gifts his bride).

Agreeing to this, Ijas gave his bookworm wife 100 books. The books include Quran, Bhagvat Gita, Bible and the Constitution of India.

The 'demand' was put forth by Ajna, who is a BEd student of Chadayamangalam, when they got betrothed in October last year.

Ijas Hakkim, who is a civil engineer working in Madavoor grama panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram, was able to procure 100 books by the time of their wedding day, December 29.

And now the couple who got married at Nilamel in Kollam has set up a big bookshelf in their bedroom.

Their decision to celebrate this day uniquely is now making rounds on social media with people applauding their idea to buck the age-old Muslim wedding tradition of giving mehr.

Ajna had also included books by Khaled Hosseini, Haruki Murakami and Michelle Obama's biography Becoming in her list.

Despite stiff opposition from their relatives and friends about the decision, the couple succeeded in going ahead with the decision of a non-traditional mehr with the support of their parents.

This isn't the first time, however, that a couple has broken convention.

In 2016, Sahla Nechyil, a graduate in political science from the University of Hyderabad demanded 50 books as mehr. She said she wanted to show the Malappuram Muslims that a wedding can take place without obsessing over the amount of gold transacted between both parties.

Her fiancé sourced the books from various stores in Bengaluru like Blossoms, Gangarams and Bookworm to source the books.