If the beneficiary of social security dies, what is done with what is paid to him
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Praise be to Allah alone, and peace and blessings be upon the one after whom there is no prophet. And after that: The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta has reviewed what was sent to His Eminence the Grand Mufti from His Excellency the Minister of Social Affairs, and referred to the Committee by the General Secretariat of the Senior Scholars’ Authority with number (248) and date 19/2/1432 AH. His Excellency asked a question, the text of which is: I am pleased to clarify to Your Eminence that there are cases of
male and female beneficiaries of social security who pass away, and there are monetary amounts in the automated payment card allocated for social security. There are no social security families entitled to social security for these beneficiaries after their death to whom the disbursement of these amounts can be transferred. In this case, the Ministry’s Agency for Social Security Affairs transfers these amounts to the trust account, and at the end of the fiscal year, they are transferred to the social security account to be used for the disbursement to other eligible social security beneficiaries. The procedures currently in place for these male and female beneficiaries covered by social security individually by the Social Security Agency for such cases are as follows: 1- The account used at Al-Rajhi Bank for deposit, from which payments are made to beneficiaries of pension categories or social security assistance for those covered by social security, is a closed current account for the Social Security Agency, not a current account for the beneficiary himself, which enables the Social Security Agency to recover the amounts that the beneficiary did not spend during his lifetime. 2- The principle is that the beneficiary’s need for the pension when he was alive, especially if he was covered by the pension individually, (but if he was part of a social security family, the pension is transferred directly to the name of one of the members of the deceased beneficiary’s family).
In order to determine the Sharia aspect in such cases, I hope Your Eminence will kindly answer regarding the procedure taken by the Ministry’s Agency for Social Security Affairs from the Sharia perspective concerning the entitlement to the remaining balance in the card of the social security beneficiary (the deceased) who is alone and has no social security family entitled to social security to whom this balance can be disbursed, and whether this balance can be disbursed to his heirs after his death, who are not entitled to social security, especially since most of the funds disbursed by social security are borne by zakat resources?
After the Committee studied the question, it answered that as long as the mentioned amount was not received by the one for whom it was allocated, the Ministry may dispose of it in the lawful manner; because that takes the ruling of charities and gifts that were not received, so it is not necessary to execute them. This is based on what Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: (That Abu Bakr had gifted her the leftover of twenty wasqs of his wealth in al-‘Aliyah. When his death approached, he said: By Allah, O daughter, no one is dearer to me in wealth after me than you, and no one’s poverty is more precious to me than yours. And I had gifted you from my wealth the leftover of twenty wasqs. If I had cut it and harvested it, it would have been yours. But today it is the wealth of the heir, and it is your brother and your two sisters, so divide it according to the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.) It was narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta.
male and female beneficiaries of social security who pass away, and there are monetary amounts in the automated payment card allocated for social security. There are no social security families entitled to social security for these beneficiaries after their death to whom the disbursement of these amounts can be transferred. In this case, the Ministry’s Agency for Social Security Affairs transfers these amounts to the trust account, and at the end of the fiscal year, they are transferred to the social security account to be used for the disbursement to other eligible social security beneficiaries. The procedures currently in place for these male and female beneficiaries covered by social security individually by the Social Security Agency for such cases are as follows: 1- The account used at Al-Rajhi Bank for deposit, from which payments are made to beneficiaries of pension categories or social security assistance for those covered by social security, is a closed current account for the Social Security Agency, not a current account for the beneficiary himself, which enables the Social Security Agency to recover the amounts that the beneficiary did not spend during his lifetime. 2- The principle is that the beneficiary’s need for the pension when he was alive, especially if he was covered by the pension individually, (but if he was part of a social security family, the pension is transferred directly to the name of one of the members of the deceased beneficiary’s family).
In order to determine the Sharia aspect in such cases, I hope Your Eminence will kindly answer regarding the procedure taken by the Ministry’s Agency for Social Security Affairs from the Sharia perspective concerning the entitlement to the remaining balance in the card of the social security beneficiary (the deceased) who is alone and has no social security family entitled to social security to whom this balance can be disbursed, and whether this balance can be disbursed to his heirs after his death, who are not entitled to social security, especially since most of the funds disbursed by social security are borne by zakat resources?
After the Committee studied the question, it answered that as long as the mentioned amount was not received by the one for whom it was allocated, the Ministry may dispose of it in the lawful manner; because that takes the ruling of charities and gifts that were not received, so it is not necessary to execute them. This is based on what Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: (That Abu Bakr had gifted her the leftover of twenty wasqs of his wealth in al-‘Aliyah. When his death approached, he said: By Allah, O daughter, no one is dearer to me in wealth after me than you, and no one’s poverty is more precious to me than yours. And I had gifted you from my wealth the leftover of twenty wasqs. If I had cut it and harvested it, it would have been yours. But today it is the wealth of the heir, and it is your brother and your two sisters, so divide it according to the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.) It was narrated by Malik in al-Muwatta.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.