Favouritism, Gifts, Last Will & Inheritance in Islam

Bismillah al Rahman al Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen

wa Salatu was Salam ala Nabina Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.

We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wata Allah, the Almighty, the majestic, the Exalted, and we ask him to send his choices of blessings and salutations. Upon the final messenger, our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam, his family members, his companions and all those who tread upon his path with utmost sincerity until the day of Tiana media,

elders

and others in Islam.

I start off by reminding myself and then all of you all gathered here in this masjid

and those who may listen to this recording later on to bring in a life of Taqwa. And that is to be conscious of Allah subhanho wa taala. And you must do this as believers as followers of Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and if you wish to attain victory and success in this world, as well as the next May Allah subhanho wa Taala make us all from the people of Taqwa. And when you make us from the victorious and successful ones, I mean

I make he says in Serato Nahal.

In Allaha, yet more will be lived in the world Sonny what eata either orba wion ha Anil fascia you will Moon carry will bug you do Kamala Allah come to the karoun Now this is an ayah which is read almost every single Friday, by the Kataeb by the preacher and I'm sure rings a bell. Most of you are familiar with this idea. So in this idea, Allah subhanho wa Taala

he orders in Allah indeed Allah yet more will be Lidl, he orders he enjoins what I believe justice, he enjoins and he orders justice.

hadith is recorded in the Book of Imam Muslim Rama Hola, where our messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is reported to have said and by the way, this is a Hadith codici

what is a Hadith produces some of you might be familiar with what a hadith policy is, and if you aren't familiar, Hadith codici is basically the words of Allah subhanahu medalla transmitted to us through the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam but it is not considered Quran, the Quran

but it's the Quran Quran, the words of Allah subhanho wa Taala and that tool was revealed unto us through the messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. But Hadith could you see is the same thing, but it is not considered Quran but rather it is from the category known as Hadith. So at this codici, where Allah Subhana Allah, Allah, He says, all my slaves, all my slaves, I have Forbidden Volume, I have forbidden injustice, I have forbidden oppression, I have forbidden wrongdoing, boom,

I have forbidden this unto myself. And I have made it haram amongst you all. So do not wrong one another. Do not

wrong one another Do not oppress one another do not deal with one another in an unjust way.

I want you all to internalize the the idea that I just read, and this hadith of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Now this concept, this idea of justice is obviously a very lofty One. And you might be thinking, well, it's not necessarily relating to me. I am no judge. I am no Supreme Court judge. I'm no high court judge. So you know what?

All of this. I don't really relate to it.

You know, you and I, we tend to pass judgments more than actual judges. We tend to pass judgments more than supreme judges in their courts.

We pass judgments between friends, we pass judgments between family members, you pass judgments between your children, between siblings

as an employer between employees

As the Imam of the masjid between individuals who come to him for advice, why, even during sport,

even during sport,

you're playing with your friends.

Obviously, you're not playing professionally, let's say you're playing as a recreational activity, you're not going to have a referee or an umpire. So what happens we tend to play that role.

So if you feel that a sharp is out, for example, you call it out, and at times, there's a dispute. And then you come in between to judge to mediate.

So at every juncture, regardless of how trivial it may be, or how serious the situation may be, in Allaha, yet more will be laddle. Indeed, Allah subhanahu, wa ala, he enjoins justice upon us.

Now, I want to divert your attention towards a very serious topic.

For those of you all this, while if you one foot here and one foot elsewhere, I want you all to focus, because this is a very serious topic. And it is related, because I just set the stage by talking about justice, I just set the stage. And now that our minds are conditioned contextualized now I'd like to address this topic.

Today, you hear

children, saying,

siblings,

my brother is the only one in the house who gets all the attention.

My sister gets everything that she wants.

My younger brother, he gets everything that he wants, he is close to that, or she is close to mom.

This is a common problem that we see across many families, many households today. And this is the problem of favoritism amongst children.

This, my dear brothers in Islam is a huge form of injustice.

Parents, they show favoritism for many reasons. It could be a times shown to the eldest child, it could at times be shown to the youngest child, it could at times be a preference of a son or a daughter, or the preference of a daughter or a son. Or the fact that a child is more closer is more loving is more obedient. There are a number of factors that lead to a parent favoring one child over the other. And at times, it could happen for simply no reason at all, no reason at all. So as you can see, it comes it takes on many forms, it takes on many shapes. And this will manifest itself in the form of the father or the mother excessively praising one child and neglecting the others. It

can take on the form of the father or the mother giving gifts to one child and ignoring the rest. Or it can take on the form of the father or the mother giving more expensive gifts to one child in preference to the others. And it can also manifest itself in such a way where the father or mother who favors one child over the other ignores the other children

ignores the other children.

My dear brothers in Islam, our deen our religion and the teachings of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam condemns and declares as forbidden. All these injustices that we just mentioned all these biases. Favoritism is not something that Islam permits it is forbidden.

I want to share two incidents two narrations of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, the first one being the hadith of responsibility. Abdullah hematoma Radi Allahu anhu, he stated the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said Kulu kumara every one of you is a shepherd, every one of you is a shepherd and is responsible for his flock. I want you to internalize the words of the messenger salallahu alayhi wasalam you are a shepherd. I am a shepherd. He is a shepherd. He is a shepherd, every one of you. We are all shepherds of our flocks. So every shepherd is responsible for his flock. The needs of our people.

is a guardian and he is responsible for his subjects. A leader. He is responsible for his subjects. A man is the guardian of his family and he is responsible for them. A woman is the guardian of her husband's home and his children and she is responsible for them.

The servant of a man is a guardian of the property of his master and he is responsible for it. No doubt every one of you is the shepherd and is responsible for his flock. So I want you to first understand the responsibility that is upon your shoulders. So all fathers or mothers, if Allah subhanahu wata, Allah has blessed you with children. It is a huge responsibility upon your shoulders that you have to ensure that you do justice unto. Now you might have heard of the narration, or the incident of a Sahabi by the name Norman even Bashir or the Allah one

who says that his father brought him to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So basically what happened? I'm just going to nourish narrate the incident, in my own words, the father of normandeau, the Allahu Anhu gifts, Norman Radi Allahu Anhu something, he gives him something. Now the mother of the sahabi, observing this, she immediately said, I will not accept this, unless you go she tells her husband, I will not accept this, unless you go and

ask guidance from the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in this regard, so basically a man gives his son something, the wife comes in between and instructs the man to go to the Prophet sallallahu Sallam and take guidance in this regard. So now the prophets Allah, now this man takes his son and goes to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and he says, the Arafura Allah, I have given this son of mine a gift, I have given this son of mine, a gift, and I would like you to bear witness to it.

Do you know what the Prophet sallallahu did at that juncture? He immediately asked, Have you got other children?

To which the man replied in the affirmative? He said, Yes, I have but the children have you given a similar gift to all of your other children? You are gifting this son a gift. Have you given a similar gift to all of the other children? To which the man says no, no, ya rasool Allah, then the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he says, Take your gift back, take your gift back.

Because I am not going to bear witness over this. I will not bear witness over injustice, I will not bear witness over injustice. I will not bear witness over injustice. Treat your children justly

fear Allah and treat your children justly.

Today, my dear brothers in Islam.

We see this issue in many households. Many families were VSP parents, we think, Oh,

let me give this child one thing can we give that child one thing and in our own heads? We think that it is fair. But we have to touch our hearts and ask ourselves have we been actually fair, and just because you have to bear in mind that this is how to pull a bad this is with regards to the rights of the creation. You have rights of Allah and rights of the Creation over you.

With regard to the rights of Allah that is to offer your Salah that is between you and Allah subhanahu wa taala if you fall short, not that I'm saying you should fall short. But if you fall short, it is between you and Allah. If Allah decides to forgive you, you are forgiven. But if you have wronged the rights of another human being, it can be in the form of your child. It can be in the form of your wife. It can be in the form of your sibling, it can be in the form of your father, your mother, if you will, or it can be in the form of your friend, it can be in the form of your neighbor, if you have wronged if you have usurped the rights of another human being.

Now the forgiveness of Allah subhanho wa Taala is hinged on to the forgiveness of that other individual. If he so wishes, he can extract justice on the day of judgment and until he forgives you or until justice is meted out. That case will not be resolved. May Allah subhanho wa Taala protector so so at times as parents you have to understand my Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam by doing injustice, you are now driving a wedge by showing favoritism. You are

causing dissent and hatred amongst your children.

And this will this baggage will spill down the generations? And how how can we sleep in peace in our graves, when due to the injustice that we have done, siblings break apart, families break apart, jealousy settles in, anger settles in, hatred settles in, toxicity settles in. And this spills down the line generation after generation. And if you are the cause, or mother or father,

it is a very serious matter.

So with regards to gifting In summary, I'm just going to mention the ruling because people think that oh when gifting I can give to one child and maybe I'll give to another child later on. Now, with regards to gifting your children, you have to be equal. Don't try to apply the laws of inheritance when gifting some people think oh, the laws of inheritance the son should get double the daughter. So let me gift also like that. Let me give my son double the daughter. No, it doesn't work that way. There is a lot of wisdom behind why the laws of inheritance have been structured structured as such, and why the male gets double the female. Don't think that that is a form of

injustice that is divinely stipulated by Allah subhanho wa taala. And it would require another sermon or series of lectures for me to go into detail and explain the wisdom behind the laws of inheritance. But in terms of you and I, we cannot apply Divine laws. The minute a person passes away the minute a person dies, his or her estate, the word estate is used to refer to everything that that person owns or possesses in a legal sense, the estate of that individual will be will be divided according to the laws of inheritance automatically the laws of inheritance come into play. So so at that point, if you have knowledge about it, if you don't have knowledge about it, you can

refer to a scholar who will guide you or your family will refer to a scholar who will guide them in terms of how the inheritance needs to be divided.

But during your lifetime, when you gift, you have to ensure that and then this is the proof the Hadith that I just shared. Now Armando, the Allah one, the Prophet said Allah Allah said he was saying gift equally, you have to gift equally.

Now, having dealt with the subject of gifting, we come to before I conclude inheritance, and the last will very quickly when talking about the last will again people have misconceptions with regards to this. The prophets of Allah Azza wa sallam is reported to have said that it is the duty of every Muslim who has something to be given as a will or through a reason not to spend two nights without writing a will about it without writing a will about it. Now this will, what does the will entail?

If you if you listen to me attentively, you won't be confused in shadow.

Let's say a man owns 1 million of whatever Okay, 1 million.

Now, during his lifetime, if he chooses to gift his children from that 1 million, he has to gift equally. So let's say he chooses, let's say for the sake of this example, he has 1,100,000. Now he wants to gift he has two children, he wants to gift his children. He can't take 100,000 and give one child if he's gifting he has to give 50,000 to one child 50,000 to the other child, if he wants to give gold one gold coin to one child and other gold coin to another child. If he wants to give a property the properties need to be equal in value. gifts have to be equal. So let's say 100,000 was given as gifts 50,000 50,000 How much is he left with 1 million

now this 1 million okay.

He has it with him.

If he dies, we didn't talk about the will as of yet if he dies, automatically the laws of inheritance will come into play and the 1 million will be divided across his living as his leaving inheritance that may be his wife and his two children. It will be divided

as per the shares stipulated in the Quran,

so where does the wheel come into play? You have to understand that generally inheritors are not brought into the will because why? They are by default going to get through the inheritance scheme. So you

You might be wondering, then what is the purpose of the wheel? What is the purpose of the wheel? The purpose of the wheel

is to write a portion of your wealth to someone

or a charitable cause to someone who may not inherit from you or a charitable cause.

And that to the will can only encompass 1/3 of your wealth. It can't go beyond that. Because we have the hadith of a companion, who was on his deathbed and he asked the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam can I give my entire wealth away in charity? The Prophet says, No, then he says, Can I give half of my wealth away in charity? 50%? The Prophet says, No, then can I give 1/3 of my wealth away in charity? 1/3 33.33%. The Prophet says, Yes, you may give and even 1/3 is a lot. Even 1/3 is a lot. Why because we have another Hadith of the Prophet sallallaahu Salam that tell us that it is better. Or if I'm not mistaken, even in the same Hadith, it is better to leave your inheritors,

independent, as in wealthy, or with some wealth, rather than leaving them begging from people. So if you decide to give all of your wealth away in charity, what about your inheritance, you're depriving your inheritance, you're depriving your children of actual wealth.

So with regards to the will, it can only encompass 1/3 of your estate. And that 1/3 should ideally not be for your inheritance, because they're already going to inherit through the inheritance scheme. It can be for someone who is not going to inherit from you. Someone who is not going to inherit from you it can be a family member, it can be a friend in need, perhaps someone who was with you all the while, you can make out 1/3 of your estate to that individual, or 1/3 of it for charitable cause. Let's say you can write 1/3 of your estate to a masjid 1/3 of your estate to a charitable organization, for it to be utilized in the form of charity. So this is the main use of

the will. And along with that, another very important feature of the will. And why the prophets Allah Allah Islam says that if any one of you has something to write in your world, two nights should not pass except that you write it. Mark my words, this is a very important feature is you owe money to people. And if people have money to you, put it in your will. Don't wait two nights without including it in your will.

It's a stark reality. But you and I, we have to accept it. We all think I'm not going to die today. I'm not going to die tomorrow. That's your heart. And think about it. You have so many dealings going on in your head, that Not even your wife knows about it at times, not even your children know about it at times. Now what if you die today? What if on your way home you die. And now these people who you have money come and stand at your doorstep saying your father asking your children your father owes me this much of money. Your father owed me that much of money. Now your children are going to be in confusion, who are we to trust are we to trust this man who has come sometimes there

may not be the proper documentation in place, or it can be a very complex deal, Allahu Allah, sometimes it can be a very complex transaction. So therefore, all these things have to be written down. And by writing it in a will, my dear brothers in Islam, it shows that you are ready for that. And that you know that that can come at any time. And you don't want to leave this world with some dead hanging where you owe somebody money, and they don't know who to reach to get the money, or someone owes you money. And you don't want to deprive your children of it. Maybe you have invested it somewhere. Submit someone locally abroad Allahu ILM included in your will so that your inheritors

your family, your children know about that wealth. This is a very, very important feature of the last week that many people overlook.

So I hope it's clear. And if you are in confusion, reach out to a scholar that you trust and gain clarity in this regard. My dear brothers in Islam, gain clarity learn about it. Don't be oblivious, don't be in the dark about it. It is a very, very serious matter. I intended to touch on favoritism. But as a tangent I went into this favoritism is a problem that we need to tackle. As parents don't let that toxicity spill onto your children.

Don't let it spill onto your children in that same Hadith had mentioned that and conclude the prophets. It tells no amount of the Allah one by doing this. It's going to result in one child, respecting you loving you and doing everything and it's going to indirectly result in the other children ill treating you so you are the cause of it. So don't be the cause for injustice to spread. Don't be the cause for oppression to spread.

because you are the shepherd, you are the one in charge, you are responsible. And the wealth is now in your control. So therefore be equal in your treatment towards your children, my dear brothers in Islam, when it comes to children, you see, you can't control your heart, let me make that very clear what comes in your heart.

And I think people will relate to this, sometimes involuntarily, because maybe you have two children. And one child is very obedient, loves you is always there for you, whilst the other child at times is a little blank, and maybe does not want to help you with certain things. involuntarily, your heart goes towards one child, now that you can't control it, it is from Allah, that feeling, but what you can control is how you act upon that feeling. Now, because that feeling cropped in if you show preference to the child, then you have acted upon it with injustice. So in terms of your treatment, it has to be equal, but your heart may warm towards one child and that you don't have any

control over it is from Allah subhanho wa taala. But what you have control over are your actions, your words, your statements, and how will you act upon those feelings. So make sure that when it comes to children, that you treat them equally, that you fear Allah in this regard, and so that we avoid toxicity, we avoid hatred, we avoid anger seeping down the generations and so that in sha Allah, we can go to our graves peacefully knowing that our children are not fighting after us knowing that our children are not hating one another after us knowing that our children are loving and united. May Allah subhanahu wa taala help us all to do so. May Allah azza wa jal help us to

treat our children equally. May Allah subhanahu wa taala help us to deal with justice when dealing with other people. May Allah subhanho wa Taala help us to adhere to justice. May Allah ease the affairs of our country may Allah open those are fruitful economy for our country. May Allah strengthen our foreign reserves. May Allah subhanahu wa Diala let justice reign over our country and just as how he united us here in this Masjid may unite us in the beautiful gardens of Jana in the companionship of our beloved prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam. I mean I mean after that while hamdulillahi rabbil aalameen