Inheritance and rules of writing a will.

Answered by 

Shaykh Navalur Rahman

I am interested in writing my will and need advice on how I should write my will according to shariah. I have my mother, father, wife, 1 daughter, a brother, a sister. How should my property be distributed. Also if I want to give something to my daughter and wife in the present time is this allowed.

The wealth that is behind after a person passes away is not distributed according to the wishes of the deceased, but rather it is distributed according to a specific manner which has been prescribed to us in shariah. No one has the right to designate certain percentages of wealth or certain specific objects of his possession for certain particular people. Yes, writing down a Wasiat (will) is sunnat. But, what this means is that a person should write down those responsibilities that he owes to other people so that if he passes away prematurely or whenever a passes away his inheritors will have the proper knowledge of how much to pay someone back. Making a wasiat also means to write down anything which is owed to him by anyone else so that whenever he passes away his inheritors will have the proper knowledge that someone owes them something and they can make the proper arrangements to collect from them. It also means that if the person writing the will has some impending sale or some impending collections, or any financial private or public contract which may be of useful knowledge to those who will inherit his/her wealth should be written down so that any right is not wasted or neglected. If someone wants to give some sadaqah from his wealth that should also be written down.

The proper method of writing a will is that the person dying should exhort and advise his inheritors to obey Allah, and to follow all HIS commandments. Then inform them of the details of any loans that are owed to him or that he owes to anyone else. Then, if he wants to give from one third of his wealth to someone or to a charity then he can. Then, finally, he should tell them that whatever portion shariah has designated for anyone should be appropriately distributed. This is the meaning of writing a will. If someone wants to give his son or daughter some of his wealth while he is still alive that is also permissible. He can make them legal owners of it in his/her presence.

Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala) Knows Best
Mufti Nawal-ur-Rahman
Original Source Link (from Way Back Machine archive)

This answer was collected from Shariahboard.org. It was established under the supervision of the eminent faqih of our era, Hazrat Shah Mufti Mohammed Navalur Rahman damat barakatuhum.

Tags: inheritance, Knowledge, making, Sadaqah, Shariah, Wife

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