Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari – Important Principles Of Inheritance In Islam
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Alhamdulillah. All praises for Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And I would like to thank the organizers
of this masjid here,
our brother here who just introduced me,
who said I was here 20 years ago.
I did deliver a talk I think 20
years ago, and I think maybe after that
once, I'm not too sure, I can't remember.
I did once I think,
and our imam Saab as well, masha'Allah. I
know them both from a for a long
time. May Allah bless both of them and
the rest of the people involved here in
the Masjid.
All of you, thankful to you for coming
today, taking out your Sunday evening.
Normally Sunday evening people are preparing for the
next day, Monday.
Children are going to school. We have holidays
in Leicester from tomorrow. I don't know if
that's the same here for the children, summer
is it next week? Okay. So we start
1 week early.
Today's topic
is a very important topic
and in the next 35, 40 minutes
I just want to talk about some
this topic with some general guidelines
for our reminder and for us to understand
Our deen that Allah
has given us
Islam,
Quran, Hadith,
the teachings of
Allah and his messenger
it relates
to every aspect of life.
From the moment a person
is born,
they're ahaqam
till a person dies and after they die.
So we
have akham laws, rules, regulations relating to childbirth,
pregnancy, before birth before birth and after death.
During pregnancy
and then childbirth and the rules of and
the etiquettes, akham of the childbirth as soon
as a child comes into this dunya, adhan
in one ear, iqamah in the other one
instilling iman and tawheed in the heart and
mind of the Muslim of of the small
child.
There's actually a whole book written.
Uhkam of the newborn.
Likewise,
there are uhkam for the Mayyid and the
deceased.
From the beginning of life till the end
of life and in every area of life,
Islam Islamic laws are divided into various categories.
Zakat,
hajj,
etcetera.
But
then
we
have different zakat Hajj, etcetera. But then we
have different branches of the laws of Islam.
Is
a very important branch of Islam
and means laws and
rules of and etiquettes of marriage, of divorce,
of living with other social etiquette, social laws.
That's a whole branch of Islam.
And then you have financial,
commercial matters.
One of the hadith of the messenger salallahu
alaihi wa sallam he mentions that one of
the things that will be questioned on yawmulkayama
will be about our wealth
where we
acquired it from, how we earned it and
how we spent it,
in and out, how it came to us
and how we left us.
So monetary matters, this is a branch of
Islam known as Mu'amalat.
Financial transaction, monetary matters, money matters, money
matters and money matters.
Money matters, I. E. Money issues
and for a lot of people and, of
course, money does matter. Money matters.
So these money matters,
very important
branch of the teachings of Islam.
Do you know the longest verse in the
Quran? Is not to do with salah,
is not to do with tasbih,
istighfar
even these things are very important
fasting.
The longest verse in the Quran
Allah revealed
is known as
the
verse relating
to credit transactions.
O you who believe
when you take a loan transaction, credit transaction,
write it down, make a contract,
even if it's £2.
Abdullah took £2 from Zaid, Amr Baqab will
be repaid on this time.
And a scribe should write in between them
with Adal, with justice.
And if someone requests you to write it
because they can't write it themselves, then don't
refuse. Write it for them. And the whole
verse.
Do not consume each other's wealth unlawfully
in a haram way. This is a very,
very important branch of Islam.
Lot of people neglect it.
A really really important branch of Islam
is the branch
that deals with financial
matters,
money issues.
Books of hadith are filled. You know when
we read books of hadith and the Ulema
and people know,
students of knowledge know that we start with,
tahara salah, etcetera, but then you have Abu
Abu'l Bu'yur.
I recently, you know, had a translation commentary
which on sunan of imam Tiramidi with all
the hadiths and detailed detailed
aspect of
financial dealings,
monetary matters.
And some of the laws are so important
because neglecting them
makes
our life difficult and the next life difficult.
And one of them is to relate to
inheritance.
Like one of the issues for example
of not just inheritance but generally financial matters
is to make
transactions
clear.
There's a saying, some said it's a hadith,
some said it's a saying of a Sahabi,
some said it's a saying of a tar.
Regardless, it's it makes it's necessary and and
it's it's true, it's correct.
And based on the spirit of the Quran.
So now it could be as a hadith,
it's narrated as a week, as a hadith
but that doesn't mean the statement is wrong.
Live like brothers and sisters but transact like
strangers.
Live like brothers and sisters,
deal
transact like strangers.
Now this is a massive problem.
You know if you ask most of the
Imams and Muftis and scholars,
I'll tell you out of my own experience,
he mentioned dawr liffta for the past 20
years,
what topic do we receive most questions on?
2 topics.
Out of 100%,
if I give you percentage
maybe
50%
issues
people ask for fatwa and answers and for
the questions. 50%,
what do you think?
Divorce.
Another 30% is inheritance.
There's 20%
other other issues.
Women matters,
money matters.
And one of the main issues just recently
last week, sometimes we would say I say
to them, I grow to answer back, I
say sorry, I can't help. There's no I
can't, there's no solution.
Because things are not made clear. You have
a family joint family,
the father starts the business,
one son graduates, joins the business, spends money
in the house or spent joins the business,
what in what capacity is he doing the
business? Is he employed by the father?
Is he voluntary
voluntarily helping the father?
Is he
got a share in the business?
There's a house,
one of the sons pays money to, you
know, extend the house, the other one pays
money, in what capacity? Is it just voluntary?
Is it his share? Is it what is
it? Nobody. When we say it's family family
issues, nobody how can you talk about these
things in their family? But then no problem
now, but after 30 years you might be
ready to kill one another.
There are cases that people actually shoot one
another, kill one another because of money.
Now this case just because it's I've had
this case many, many times but just as
last week, that's why I remember this.
The brother asked me this question that we
have 3 brothers, 1 sister, the father has
passed away, he passed away COVID time, Rahimahullah.
The mother, there was some property in Pakistan
and we don't know this, we don't know
that. The property in Pakistan, who owned it?
We think the mother, father owned it but
then there was money in the bank account
in Pakistan.
My mother got the money and she just
kept it, gave some brothers something but I
think it was from it's all I think,
I think, I think nobody knows anything.
One penny, 1 inch of land
The hadith says, 1 inch of land
you take off someone else,
there's punishment
Even a small part of someone's wealth we
take unlawfully.
Things need to be made clear.
That's the first very important point with any
financial matters.
If you've got a house,
who owns this house? Make it absolutely
clear in this life
because after we die we can't tell anyone
anything.
Make it clear, these all these inheritance laws
and wills and all of this that comes
afterwards.
Start with the basics,
who owns what?
You must have heard one of the subcontinent
scholars
Sheikh Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Shafi'ar Rahim Allah, the
author of Ma'aleful Quran.
Before he passed away,
he was,
you know, like few years or in last
few months of his life, he was bedridden,
so they made a room for him downstairs
like, you know, generally people.
So his son is my teacher, Sheikh Mufti
Taquth Mani Hrudullah. I've heard this from him
along many times that
he was there, we were sitting in in
his room in his gathering
and he asked for some water or milk
and
I went and got it from the, you
know, inside the house from wherever it was
kept, water. And I gave it to him.
After he drank it, he gave it back
to him and said take it back, the
cup finished.
So they were sitting and he was talking,
it was a majlis, so he put the
cup down on the table.
After 10 minutes, he said my father saw
the table, he said,
take I told you to take this, haven't
you taken it? He
Said yeah I've just kept it inshallah when
the when the gathering ends when you finish
talking I'll take it later. He said no
no no no now take it. I have
written in my will that when my soul
leaves this duniya everything in this room belongs
to me, everything outside this room belongs to
your mother.
This cup belongs to your mother.
This is my will written, clear.
And if this
cup stays in this
rule
and I die, it will be wrongly attributed
to me and there's inheritance in there whereas
there's no inheritance. This is your mother's cup.
That's how
careful they were. Imam Abu Hanifa
many of us follow, I think it's related
regarding him as far as I remember
that they went some somewhere to see a
person who was on his death bed.
As soon as he passed away, the lamp
was on, off.
You must have heard this incident.
People said darkness, he said, well, this light
was on with his permission. As soon as
a person dies, he doesn't own this light
anymore.
Ask all inheritance, are we allowed to use
this light?
People pass away,
the man passes away in the house,
we have to ask permission of all the
inheritors that can be actually come in your
house, even Janazah time. People are eating and
drinking and
imagine this this is belongs to and it
doesn't belong to who does he belong to?
There's a lot of delicacy in Islamic matters
when it comes to these issues.
So even in life making matters clear, financial
transactions
made clear,
Live like brothers and sisters, transact,
deal like strangers.
You have a business,
family business, who owns what, what capacity.
If your son
has gone to university, studied, graduated, returned home
his business,
sit down right clear.
He is being employed. What are his wages?
If he's employed, monthly salary.
Or does he have a share?
10% share in the business. Or is it
free of charge?
Sign. I am helping my father free of
charge.
2nd son, 3rd son, because when you pass
away, these sons are gonna fight.
No.
One gets married, taking money out from the
business, you took more money out, you took
less money out. So just be clear from
the beginning.
Best way policy saves us problem, hassle in
this life is to be
clear from the beginning,
absolutely clear.
It really, really helps. It gives peace of
mind, tranquility,
no stress.
Everything should be clear.
The house you live in,
if it's husband wife,
if you want to, it doesn't matter who
paid for it,
you can still be jointly. You can just
say clearly. You can tell all your children,
make them sit down, say you know what?
This house belongs to me and your mother.
Tell them all clearly.
Make everybody witness if you want to that
is. If you want to not make it,
give it to one of the spouses then
say this house belongs to me. Because if
the house belongs to the husband,
he passes away then there's inheritance in the
whole house. The children
are not duty bound. They don't have to
let the mother stay in the full house.
If they say no, they're not sinful.
They should do let the mother stay but
they're not sinful.
I remember once an elderly brother came to
me, he was writing his will.
So we sat down and and he was
talking about this house issue.
He was talking about children.
He said, I want to give
okay, I'll mention that in a bit limit.
So this is the first point, sir, I
don't mix it up. The first point is
make things all clear.
In life make all of these transactions,
ownerships,
who owns what, how much,
in the family as well make it clear.
That's a really important
point.
Very, very important point.
Because if we don't, later on things become
very muddy, very unclear,
complicated.
We don't know who owns what.
So this is generally with all financial dealings,
whether it's inheritance or no inheritance.
Just clear, Muamalat is a very important
branch of Islam, very important branch of Islam.
Numerous hadith and ayat of the Quran of
how we earn our money, how we acquire
halal payib money.
Then specifically about inheritance,
there are few points.
Now inheritance is one
branch of the Muhamalat,
the whole monetary
financial
branch.
Inheritance because it's to do with money.
Now a lot of people don't understand
that there's so many ayaat and ahadith, you
know, these are lim regarding inheritance Allah says
these are the limits set by Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. After he mentions all the laws
of inheritance,
inheritance and the point is that you know
from all the
fiqh rulings of Islam, inheritance ones are the
most straightforward.
There's no much differences between Hanafi, Malik, Shafa,
e Hanbali, it's
very simple straightforward.
And it's a very just system, very just
system.
There's no time to explain the hikm and
the wisdoms behind and the deeper meanings of
this.
But the point I'm trying to make here
that we need to understand there's a difference
between gift and inheritance.
This is what I was saying, the example
I was giving.
Point number 1 about inheritance.
Lots of people make a massive mistake
in not distinguishing. I've explained this to so
many people over the phone.
There is a massive difference between
inheritance
and gift. Gift
is
or Arabic.
Gift.
One of the other language, you know,
French, what do you call it?
Sorry?
So gift, what is a gift?
Gift is something you give to somebody
when
in your lifetime.
Okay? If I want to give you a
gift of my phone, if I want to,
I'm not giving it to you. But if
I want to give, this is a gift.
There are rules
for gift. One of the rules of gift
is
This is not a hadith, it's a text.
I read but based on the Quranic verses
and hadith, a hadith is not complete
until you the person
does not take the recipient, does not take
ownership and doesn't take control and possession over
it.
Depends what the item is. If it's a
house then it's a phone you take in
your hand. If it's a house and
the property deeds or control or possession, constructive
possession, etcetera, etcetera.
But
the recipient
takes it.
That's a gift.
Inheritance is not a gift.
Inheritance is what?
Inheritance,
we're not giving it. If it was up
to us, we wouldn't give it to a
lot of people.
Allah is already fixing
who shall get what after we pass away.
It's not even ours. It doesn't even belong
to us. As soon as the soul, the
ruh leaves the body,
exactly that moment everything we own,
we have it's not ours anymore, Khala, it's
finished. Ownership is gone.
So if we don't own it, how can
I say
after I die this person gets this? I
don't own it. Imagine I say, okay, this
phone,
I'm giving this phone to you.
Can I say I'm giving you this phone?
Why not?
I I don't own it. I have no
control and say over this phone. It's it's
his phone.
I can't give anyone's item to somebody else.
So to say that after I die,
this thing gets to this person, it's not
it's not I don't own it. It's got
nothing to do with me.
I used to have it,
not anymore.
I used to have it once I was
alive back in the day. Once upon a
time,
this used to belong to me
and because this used to belong to me,
Allah kept that that because
it used to be yours.
You have a relationship with it. It used
to be yours when you are alive in
dunya. Your soul's gone.
Because it used to be yours,
will allow you 1 third. You can think
about 1 third where you want to do
when it's no low yours as well because
of your old time sake relationship.
1 third,
even though it's not yours but you can
say after I die, 1 third to the
masjid, to the madrasah, to this charity, to
this friend, it could be anyone. It could
as long as it's condition. It can't be
for anyone who's already getting from the 2
thirds.
There is no wasiyah request for someone automatically
inheriting.
You can't give it to your son, you
can't give it to your wife, your husband,
your daughter
because they're getting part of the 2 thirds
which Allah says I'll give them. It's not
yours.
So 1 third
you because you used to be yours,
whilst you're alive you can say that when
I die this wealth when I will not
own it, I will not have it.
At that time 1 third
can be given to this charity, that charity
or even a friend.
Even a friend, even a non Muslim
even a non Muslim, you can give it.
It's not a problem. You can give it
to anyone or anyone who have accept
the people who automatically inherit.
Immediate family members, you can't give them. But
you can make a for anybody else, Muslim,
non Muslim, whoever,
family, friend,
anybody.
It's like a
like a gift. I can give to non
Muslim. Can you give a gift to not?
You can give. I can give a gift
to anybody. So that's like a gift
of something we don't own but we used
to
own. So now the massive mistake that people
make is that they don't
understand
the difference between
inheritance
and gift.
If you want to
give someone in your lifetime, now with children
so this brother came to me,
I want to give
inheritance to my
children.
I said, give inheritance?
Inheritance is after death. You're still alive, you're
talking.
Are you breathing? Yes.
I said how can you give us inheritance?
Inheritance only starts after you die.
No, no, I want to give them in
this. I said that means a gift. Then
he said understood. Okay, gift gift.
I said, yes, you can give gift. Gift,
whilst you're alive, you can give to your
family members.
You can give, not a problem.
So how much do they get? I said,
look,
there are no this is not inheritance.
It's not inheritance.
So no rules of inheritance apply. You know,
16 and 1 8 and 1 quarter, none
of that applies.
The only thing that applies in gift
is the messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
Be just. There was one Sahabi companion who
came to the messenger salallahu alaihi wa sallam.
He said, oh messenger of Allah, I am
salallahu alaihi wa sallam,
I'm I've given my son a gift.
I want you to come and bless it
and be a witness
to it.
So the messenger
said,
Have you given all your children similar gift?
He said, no. He said,
then I don't be witness to oppression,
injustice.
Don't make me a witness.
Be just.
If you're giving your children in your lifetime
gift,
you know people talk about second marriages, 3rd
marriages, justice between multiple wives, exactly the same
justice between multiple children.
If you got 3 sons, be just.
Sons and daughters between them. Now if you're
giving in your life, inheritance rules don't apply.
So now you give your son and daughter
exactly the same.
Some ulama have said that it there is
a flexibility of giving 2 to 1 as
it would be in inheritance.
It's okay
but still more better to give them equal
because it's a gift, it's not inheritance.
So if you're giving in your lifetime, it's
a gift. You can give
to your children
in your lifetime. But remember, and this is
the brother who came, elderly brother sitting next
to me, we were going through how to
make his wall etcetera.
I have 3 sons. I've got 3 properties
I want to give them. I said, yeah,
you can give them.
But remember, a gift is not complete until
they don't take ownership and possession. He said,
yeah, yeah. I'm giving them in their name,
everything changing.
So I said, where you gonna live?
He says, one of the properties. I said,
have you they given you permission? No. No.
I'm gonna live until no. Make your mind
up. Is it a gift or not a
gift?
I said, look, gift is that you give
it to them. If they tell you tomorrow,
dad, out. You have to be out. It's
not yours.
Can I stay in the house and keep
rent until no? No. You can't have your
cake and eat it at the same time
as they say.
You can't be this way. People are you
know, you have to be clear. You can't
be here and there. This is the problem.
I said give it to them as a
gift. It's theirs, no longer yours,
or don't give it to them.
You can't say I'm giving it to them,
but still I until I'm alive, I have
to live in it. That's no you're right.
I can't say I'm living in your house.
If they allow you, fine, but wholeheartedly
permission and if they change their mind next
week you have to go find a rental
property.
He started scratching his head,
forget it I'm not giving anybody anything, you
can't trust children nowadays.
Don't know. They said they can flip like
this, who knows?
That's what he said. I don't know what's
going on. We don't know. I trust them
but who knows? So forget it.
Same thing with wife as
well. Husband wife
joint ownership. One good way is to say
to everybody that you know what our everything
in this house belongs jointly
to husband wife.
Great. But you have to remember, anyone who
dies and I don't know why now I
know husbands generally men die earlier, but it's
always thought like it's just a man man
dying always first like this. It's possible the
woman dies as well, the wife. It's always
we think just the husband dies, husband dies
first. Shall I pray in my wife's name?
What about the wife thinking that she might
die first?
That was back in the day when they
used to go in the battle and, you
know,
That's when they used to die a lot,
the men.
So
the
house property,
if you do jointly,
then what's the ruling?
That if anyone dies, let's say if their
wife dies first
then what will happen? It's easy.
50%
will remain in the
ownership of the husband,
the other 50% will be shared inheritance
and the husband will have his share as
well as the children.
And if the husband ties first,
the wife will keep 50%
and in the other 50% she'll keep her
share as well as other people.
Then they can they can divide it, the
children can say mother no problem you stay
until you know, no we don't we don't
want it. Alhamdulillah that's how they should be
it's great but if anyone wants it you
have to give them that personalization.
They are not doing anything wrong. They are
not becoming bad people. Somebody wants their share,
they just giving they want their basic right.
It's not against it's not disrespectful parents.
You can't make them feel bad and guilty
that, astaghfirullah,
you're asking if you don't even let your
mother stay, you know.
It's not
it's their right.
As long as if the mother is not
earning etcetera and then all the brothers if
they want their right then then of course
they have to fulfill the right of the
mother and maybe get a rented house or
something and help her out etcetera like that.
They need to help her out and make
sure because the rights of the mother from
that angle. But this basic inheritance right if
they demanding it, there's nothing wrong in demanding
it.
So in life,
if someone wants to give a gift, they
can give a gift to anyone who they
want. Condition is gift is complete by the
recipient taking ownership, possession, full control, it becomes
theirs and it's theirs.
And if they don't,
then
it will be part of the inheritance.
Now part of the inheritance
and I'm not gonna go into the rules
of inheritance, etcetera, you know, the the shares,
etcetera.
When he goes part of the inheritance,
as I mentioned,
1 third we can make wasiyah,
bequest.
So
we can say
1 third goes to the Masjid, etcetera, like
I just mentioned or who it goes to,
and that 1 third we cannot make.
Now, here, the point is that, you know,
a lot of times when people, when they
want to write a will, etcetera,
they say, okay,
I want to make a will,
I want to make a Islamic will and
we should all have a will.
In the beginning of Islam,
writing a will was fard.
To write.
This was before Allah alloted, you know,
allotted the shares.
It was permissible for you to decide who
to give what, how much. But write it
down so there's no fights.
Then Allah
revealed verses that Allah has already fixed for
who's getting what. You don't have a right
to decide now.
So then the obligation of writing will no
longer remained.
Then it became mustahab
because you don't have to write because why
even if you don't write
the Islam is already fixed.
So original ruling is that it's not a
father
and why jib and necessary to write a
will.
However,
if we are living in a country or
in a place where if we don't write
it then it will be done in a
unlawful and Islamic way, then because of that
it might become necessary. That you have to
make sure that it's not done un Islamic.
So technically it's not an obligation,
but if you fear that your family won't
do it Islamically,
then we should write it all. And this
is why I think
The messenger
said in the hadith that
no one should
pass 2 nights, let's 2 nights pass by,
except that you should have your wasi written.
And this is not for just old people,
everyone should have wasi, once you get in
your twenties you should have wasi.
Wasya doesn't mean like you're dying tomorrow
and you could die it. Who knows? Nowadays,
no nothing. You know, someone's 20, they die,
someone's 60,
Before someone's was 70.
Nothing's guaranteed.
We should all have
something written.
It's really important to be have something written,
even at a young age.
That's why Abdulai ibn Umar when he heard
the hadith of the messenger
he
said,
I did not even let one night pass
by except
under my pillow is to keep it. His
wasiya
used to keep it.
So
in there you just write, now a lot
of people ask this wasiya
When you write this will, last will, testament,
whatever you wanna call it, it depends on
a lot of things.
It depends on who you are and how
much you your estate is and how much
you own.
If you just own a few £100 then
you can write on a piece of paper,
you can write on a tissue if you
want, in pencil somewhere.
You know,
people are more
people are more interested
in you when you have more money,
including the government, including the inland revenue, including
the tax people, so it just depends.
Technically speaking, you could have a take a
pen, write it on a piece of paper,
it's valid.
Sign it, date it, it's valid.
Basic if, you know, will, it's valid
and witness as well, yeah.
You don't have to have a sophisticated will.
You don't need to go to a solicitor
and pay £500.
A lot of people make money out of
lot of everything nowadays.
It's, you know,
they go they come to advice to the
imam or the Sheikh or the Muftis is
like free of charge and they go to,
you know, 1 one hour to the solicitor
is £500.
The Muuli is asking, you know, if if
there's, you know, fees for him, astaghfirullah,
is asking for money and what is this?
The same thing, the same advice, the same
counsel
counseling, the same social advice, the same
marriage problem advice, the same talaq advice, 12
o'clock midnight,
we are bugging the imans and the ulama
but nobody wants to pay a penny.
And, you know,
people who just do it more professionally sitting
in a office, they do the same thing.
I've studied in psychology and all of this
counseling and all of this and it's it's
nothing. We have everything in Deen and Islam.
You know, people have,
mental health issues and people have the psycho
psychological problems and depression and anxiety and OCD
and and what's was and obsessive compulsive disorder.
It's like it's everything in our deen. We
the imams do more than what you can
get professional help.
Much more.
They just sometimes need someone to listen to
and shoulder to cry on, an ear that
listens.
You know, there was one
counselor or a social advisor
was a non Muslim. I spoke to him
once at length.
Now what are your the way you deal
with people who come with these psychological problems,
depression, anxiety, he said there's nothing you can
do. The main thing we help them is
tell them count your blessings.
And this is the whole idea of Islam.
I've delivered so many talks in the last
2 3 years, different places
about namah of Allah, counting your blessings about,
you know, every part of namah,
every part of a blessing of Allah. Our
bodies are blessings, food is blessing, drink is
blessing. This it's good for you mentally.
Peace,
tranquility, happiness to think about the nature of
Allah and thanking of Allah. This is all
in our deen.
And books non Muslims have written books on
this. Count your blessings. Count your blessings. Count
your blessings.
Think positively. Think positively.
So then you'll just go for a one
one hour counseling and they pay like 2,
£300.
That's like a bayan in the masjid.
Honestly, sometimes you get more in the masjid
from the imam side.
People feel good with, you know, this spiritual
spirituality and they just do it, you know,
because it's an appointment and it's just 100,
200, £300.
So that's why I'm saying to you, just
save your money. Don't just go anyone, everyone
throw your money like that. You lot of
things you can do it yourself.
Just speak to someone,
you know,
and Insha'Allah you will be helped.
Likewise, even this world thing and I don't
want to take anyone out of service and
business,
so excuse me. But,
sometimes you might need to go to a
professional person,
especially if lots involved a legal you need
a legal stamp etcetera, then you will need
that.
But
a lot of the times you don't need
to.
You don't need to
as long as you understand the basic concepts.
So if you write on a piece of
paper,
anything I've written beforehand I revoke it
and
I now write now this is the problem
or the misunderstanding sorry not problem misunderstanding
that people ask that you know I'm writing
a will, how much shall I who will
get what?
This is where the problem is.
I say Allah has already decided because, yeah,
tell me what Allah has decided.
When Allah has decided, we don't know yet
because we don't know when you're dying, who's
dying first.
Anyone dying
before or after makes a massive difference in
the whole calculation.
No one knows who's going to die, when.
You can't sit
now and write my son will get this
because your son might die before you.
And if he dies before you, what your
wife's gonna get is different and what this
person is. It's all different.
So you can't divide and start calculating and
distribution in your life.
Islamically,
you just write
that when I pass away,
I want at that time
my estate
to be divided to be distributed in accordance
with the rules of Islam Sharia.
At that time, these are the executives.
The executives are very powerful, you know, it's
all in their hands. And you appoint those
executives
who are very powerful very, you know, Islamic
mind practicing, you carefully choose who they are.
And there are some legal rules that I
think executives can be from your family but
witnesses can't.
Witnesses have to be non family this is
legally, not Islamically.
Islamically, you can have it even in family,
but from a legal British law point perspective,
the witnesses have to be someone who's not
related to the family, not married in the
family, etcetera, etcetera.
So
you appoint
good executives,
it will be in their hands.
At the time when I pass away,
they will consult a mufti or an imam
or a, you know, shayikh of knowledge
and you could just write according to the
Quran and so now going to as explained
by the Hanafi school if you want to
do that. But as I said, there's not
much differences in the various schools.
At the time of my death,
determine it and that's it and that's the
will go.
Then when we pass
away, at that time,
not if we pass away, when we pass
away.
Not if. Yeah. We are going to all
die, of course.
So when we die,
we are going to die. You know, when
we go to the graveyard,
what's
One brother said to me, can I stop
saying Insha
Allah?
You
have preceded us, we will Insha Allah join
you. We're coming. They They said, I feel
great. When I said, I don't wanna say,
inshallah. It's like making me go to my
death quickly.
You can't run away.
Before that.
The death you are running away from.
It's going to do with you.
It's going to meet you.
So when we die
at that time
it will be divided
according to
who's alive at that time.
So it's simple.
So this is basically the summary summary,
like I said there's so there's lots of
other rules. I mean, I don't know if
I've missed something. I once
wrote a small booklet on this. I'm just
I thought I'll mention some things, but let
me see if there's anything.
Okay. Some points when a person
just anything important that I've missed out.
Yeah.
There's one thing here.
It is important for the family
afterwards to ensure that what?
They what?
Divide their state according to
Islamic rules. I've talked about the person dying,
what about the responsibility of the people alive?
If they don't do it in an Islamic
way, they are sinful.
Massive sin.
Now when we say massive sin,
if they all agree in a different way
provided there's no force pressure that is permissible.
You know, this sometimes people don't understand.
Look for example, if someone's passed away
and all the children and, you know, whoever's
inheriting, they say, you know what, we all
going to do equal equal equal equal equal
equal. Everyone happy, everyone happy, no problem.
This is not 4 rakat or dua that
you can only pray 4 and not pray
5.
You can do it differently.
This will mean that each other is giving
each other adiyah for giving.
If they all agree no pressure, no force,
nothing
on anyone, no psychological,
mental, emotional
pressure
of any sort.
Complete
happiness if they all say
that yes, Islam says this this share but
we just doing it in different we all
just want to give everybody equal equal equal
equal. Everyone is happy, that's fine.
According to sharia? Yeah. According to sharia, it's
permissible.
It's permissible because
Sharia is not saying you have to do
it this way, Sharia is saying this is
the right.
If someone is forgiving their right,
like for example, 1 person say I don't
even want anything that's permissible, you don't have
to take. Someone's being given more because others
are giving so each other are giving hardyas
to each other.
This is Sharia saying that if someone demands
this is the right
but if you're giving up your right and
giving someone more then that's permissible.
And also
and then also if the person
who passed away,
if he wrote an un Islamic will that
is necessary that we don't follow that.
If he wrote an un Islamic will, it's
haram to follow that legally and this is
why we say people say, oh, you know,
the will, this is the we follow the
law of the country. We follow the law
of the country as long as it does
not go against the law of Allah and
his messenger
So we have to follow the Islamic of
and the law of this country doesn't
force you to do it in a
an Islamic way. The law of the country
allows you to do it however you want.
The law is not saying you must after
the husband dies, everything must must must must
go to the wife. No. If you wanna
do it differently, you can do it differently.
The law allows you to give it all
to your cats and dogs as well.
People write their rules and say, you know,
my cats and dogs and my, you know,
pets and rabbits will take the money. So
the law allows everything.
So if someone
did not write an Islamic will or wrote
an Islamic will or didn't write no will
or whatever in every situation the family members
afterwards
must do it according to Islamic shares
as long as they all want to do
it like that and if they want to
do it all collectively
agree differently, then that's also fine because then
they're just giving gifts. But here you should
be precautious because we don't know somebody might
be pressured, forced. That's why the olam must
say that look if you want it if
then just give everybody the Islamic share then
if they want to give someone else then
they give their hadiyah. So if the daughter
is saying no I don't want it they
might be pressurized cultural say no this is
your share Here, take it. Now, if you
want to give it to somebody, you give
it. Just to be sure.
Because sometimes somebody out of, you know, just
pressure force, they might just say, no, I
don't want it, I don't want it, because
of culture.
So
so that's a point.
And I think, yeah,
I've mentioned this as well.
And as you know that
inheritance only starts at the beginning, you know,
first funeral expenses are taken out and then
after that
any loans paid to any human beings, any
creation of Allah that has to be paid
off,
1st and foremost.
Whether the person makes a will, wasiya 1
third or no. If all the money goes
in paying someone's debt off then everything goes.
That's the first thing.
If someone has debts,
now debts are of 2 types, debts payable
to Allah,
debts payable to human beings.
This is only relating to debts payable to
human beings. Any loans, any money that has
not been paid to other people
that with or without any bequest, whether he
wrote a will, he didn't write a will,
if you want him to be forgiven, the
hadith says
Even for a martyr,
every sin is forgiven except alone.
You know, deaths
is, you know, debts best not to take
too many debts
in life. It's not recommended in Sharia, it's
permissible,
but
Islam doesn't encourage
a death
based life.
Whereas this capitalist system
makes us even our
eyebrows are dead and our nostrils and everything,
every inch of our organ,
every breath is death debt
based. This is how this system, capitalist system
works.
This,
you know, really force it upon us, credit
card after credit card after credit card. Don't
need a credit card.
I, for many, I never had it. I
just normal bank card. I've never never never
never never had. Then for something, they needed
it because
I had to get a credit card to
buy that thing. So I got it, but
then used it at one time and since
then, I've never used it again.
Why do I need a credit card? I've
got a pay as you go life. I
always say,
a pay as you go life is a
stress free life.
Debt based is you know it gives that's
why the messenger
used to make a dua, you know,
the famous
dua.
Overcome by deign, oh Allah protect me. Lot
of people they become depressed because of these
deign
worries.
What you can afford? Buy. If you can't,
leave it.
If you can't,
only take loans if it's really really needed
in exceptional cases.
Otherwise, you know, you'll get gray before you
get gray.
You'll get old before you get old.
Less stress, you don't want tension stress.
Know, you mentioned to me, maybe that's the
reason. I looked younger than I used to
look 20 years ago, I have no debts.
I have never ever ever taken a loan
in my life.
Never.
Never ever. I think once about £5 from
somebody I just needed and paid him back
in 2, long time ago.
Never taken a loan. There's nobody I owe
money to. It's just a simple straightforward life.
What am I gonna eat tomorrow? I'll see
tomorrow. So,
but it's if you need, I know sometimes
people need to take loans, So you take
a loan but
these
loans,
they need to be paid
regardless.
If even if all the money goes, it
has to be given. No nothing left for
inheritance, nothing left for inheritance.
As for
debt payable to Allah, what does that mean?
Zakat.
Even Zakat is for poor, but it's it's
a
based. Allah has said give that.
All
and paid, you know, all Hajj and things
like that.
That will not be taken out unless
the person made the wasi'ah and within just
that 1 third.
So if he wrote that will that, you
know, 1 third please, you know, pay do
Hajj for me or give this or this,
you know for salah unpaid salah and perform
salah fasts
only if you made a will.
And if you didn't make a will then
the family all have to agree and if
they don't agree
they are not doing anything wrong.
So this is to do with the the
debts, etcetera.
Yeah. 1 third is after the loan. So
after you pay the loan debts off
to human beings, makhluk,
Ibad, hukkuqul Ibad,
then after that,
whatever's remainder then after that
money will go if there's a bequest of
debts payable to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So this is bequest and,
and then there's that's it here. We can
we can end here.
Yeah. I think I've had a look. Now
look, I
long time ago,
I'm sorry if my glasses are going to
take off because I can't read with my
glasses on.
I prepared this
last will and testament
many many years ago, about 10 years ago.
I don't give it out to everybody because
this is a very detailed one.
I put about 6, 7 wills in front
of me. I had a very good friend
who was a very high qualified professional solicitor
in the country, one of the top top,
and without giving any names,
and I got it checked by him,
and,
he said legally it's fine, but this is
just there's there's no legal stamp on this.
Now,
very carefully looking at everything,
it's about 8 to 9 pages
and it's not for everybody
and if somebody
wants to write this, I have to actually
explain to
them to go through it.
He needs an hour explanation. So it just
says last will and testament Islamic guidelines to
read before completing this will, and there's a
few basic points. But if I so you
have the name here,
address, revocation, I revoke everything beforehand,
appointment appointment of executives and trustees, 1, 2,
3, 4, etcetera. And then funeral and burial
burial wishes,
and it's written in my estate. I direct
the payment of all my funeral burial expenses
be first deducted out of my state,
unless someone voluntarily chooses to pay and then
a few things. After payment of above,
I bequeath that my
somes, zakat, etcetera
and pay such amounts to persons or charities
as determined by executives.
The total amount under this clause, however, shall
not exceed 1 third of the net value
of my state
after payment of funeral expenses.
And then here,
5 4, please tick one box only. Now
there's 2 options.
In event of any balance remaining out of
the 1 third of the net value of
my state as mentioned above,
I bequeath
x amount to be given to charity
and then you've got a b c who
are non heirs, payment for an MRI scan
because you know remember Islamically
we don't want post mortem so payment for
MRI scan.
As an alternative to post mortem if necessary,
please tick 1. And the second box is,
in the event I do not wish to
bequeath anything. So choice, do you want to
bequeath or not bequeath? Tick one box.
And then there's other things here, attestation
and
and then there's an appendix,
list of assets.
Please include properties, banks, jewelry, cash in hand
stock, pensions, whatever, asset 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, write it
down. Here as well,
list of unfulfilled obligations and debts.
How much unfulfilled salah?
So what you do is you write down
because remember Islamically salah is farrut. It's an
obligation.
And we have to do qada.
We have to start the kada. If we
pass away and salah is remaining upon us,
then this
is the same amount of.
How much
You had £5.
But sometimes with this salakatul fitter, we put
a bit extra just because, you know, it's
charity, etcetera
and it's only once a year. So you
can try to check.
It might be less and then also you
can pay it in Pakistan, India
locally there and they might be like 50p,
something like that. Yeah, about 50p. If you
got so many salah and so many fasting,
so give it to the poor there, eat
salah 50p, 40p like that.
So what you do is you write I
have
2,043,
433
salah left. Each day after you finish your
salah,
you keep on amending this. This much salah
done, this much salah done. If we die
in the middle, they'll see how much salah
is left.
So every night before going to sleep,
do your qada every night before going to
sleep,
change the number of how much salah you've
got left.
If you don't wake up in the next
morning
if you don't, if you are not born
in the next morning after dying at night,
All
thanks to Allah who gave us life after
he gave us death. We were sleeping, we
were dead.
It's it's a type of death. Sleep is
a sister of death.
So if you don't wake up in the
morning, then people will look, okay, he's got
433
salah left.
So they know exactly.
Unperformed fast, unperformed unpaid zakat,
unperformed, unfulfill Hajj, other obligations,
outstanding debt for, outstanding debt to, outstanding debt
who you owe money to. Everything is clear
because everyone knows in the family
what you've got basically. So all these things
whether you write it yourself on a piece
of paper, just point is
make it clear. If you have a lot
of high level estate then you might need
the services of qualified
solicitor,
especially if you got tax involved,
the, you know, the inheritance tax and the
threshold I don't know what the threshold is
now,
inheritance tax, how much is it?
4?
4.40.
So when you're getting to those realms,
then you need some professional
legal advice where
they can try to
not if avoid it but like there's tax
avoid avoidance and there's tax evasion.
So you don't do evasion, you do avoidance.
There are people who can help you do
that. You rather leave that money for your
family than give it to all to
Rishi Shunaka. No. Who's who's the
finance but she's
leaving it to the government.
You do rather have leave it for your
family Insha'Allah. So if you can avoid that
in best ways and if you've got properties
then
do it legally, get professional help, do it
in a way that that people can't
dispute it later on.