Mirath - The Laws of Islamic Inheritance

MAKING A WILL
The importance of making a will cannot be overemphasised. The
reason for this is that if a person were to die without leaving a will,
his/her estate would be distributed according to UK law, which is not
compatible with Isl\mic law. This does not mean that to implement the
Isl\mic inheritance system one will be going against the law. As long as
one specifies that one bequeaths the relevant proportion of the value
of the estate to each relative. i.e. The sum and each heir and their
allotments should all be mentioned as a bequest.
Unfortunately, it is not enough for a person to write in his will that he
wishes it to be distributed in accordance to Shar|`ah. This will not
stand in court. It is essential that a person works out who his inheriting
relatives are and mentions them in his/her will. This will not need doing
every time a person makes or loses money, but it will have to be altered
in the event of the birth or death of a close relative.
The reason why this publication is emphasising the making of a will is
twofold. The first is that the Prophet r ordained it.
`Abdull\h ibn `Umar t narrates that the Messenger of All\h r said,
‘A man does not have a right that three nights pass by but that his will is
with him (i.e. made).’
`Abdull\h t further said, ’A single night did pass by after I heard the
Prophet of Allah say this but my will was with me.’ an-Nasa’|, al-Bayhaq|
The second reason is that it presents a safe way of acting upon Shar|`ah
in the all-too-common event that family squabbles turn nasty; when
people do not think that they are getting enough from the estate and
others are getting too much.
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