He says: There is a woman close to me who used to live in our house. She had properties she inherited from her father, her mother, her husband, and her deceased children. She instructed me...
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The questioner : He says: There is a woman close to me who used to live in our house. She had properties she inherited from her father, her mother, her husband, and her deceased children. She instructed me to look for two plots of land whose income would be an endowment (waqf) for the reconstruction of an old, demolished mosque. She had already identified the locations. When she wanted to go see them and sign the documents related to this, she was involved in a car accident and died as a result. Are her heirs obligated to fulfill this endowment? Some of them oppose it, and the most opposed is her daughter’s husband. Does he have the right to do so? Are their approvals required to complete the endowment, or is it taken from her estate against their will? And if I do not have witnesses to her endowment at that time, please inform us. May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : According to what the questioner mentioned, the endowment has not been completed to this day, because the endowment depends on her seeing the place and executing it, and this did not happen. Therefore, that property belongs to the heirs if it has been purchased. If it has not been purchased, the matter is clear. However, the heirs should, in such a case, agree to what this deceased woman intended, from whom they inherited the wealth, so that the benefit may be for her after her death in what she intended of drawing near to Allah the Exalted with her wealth.
As for if this woman had appointed him as her agent for the purchase and the endowment, and he purchased it and made it an endowment, and the matter was only pending her seeing it for reassurance, then the endowment in that case is valid, and no one has the right to oppose it, because it was completed through the agency of this authorized agent who executed what he was appointed for, except that he wanted this woman making the endowment to be reassured about the place he identified and in which he executed the endowment.
The Shaykh : According to what the questioner mentioned, the endowment has not been completed to this day, because the endowment depends on her seeing the place and executing it, and this did not happen. Therefore, that property belongs to the heirs if it has been purchased. If it has not been purchased, the matter is clear. However, the heirs should, in such a case, agree to what this deceased woman intended, from whom they inherited the wealth, so that the benefit may be for her after her death in what she intended of drawing near to Allah the Exalted with her wealth.
As for if this woman had appointed him as her agent for the purchase and the endowment, and he purchased it and made it an endowment, and the matter was only pending her seeing it for reassurance, then the endowment in that case is valid, and no one has the right to oppose it, because it was completed through the agency of this authorized agent who executed what he was appointed for, except that he wanted this woman making the endowment to be reassured about the place he identified and in which he executed the endowment.