If a man endows agricultural land whose proceeds are paid to whoever recites a complete recitation of the Qur'an every year and he bequeaths it to the endower, is it permissible for his wife or any of the heirs to claim a share of this endowment?

The questioner : My grandfather endowed a piece of agricultural land whose proceeds are spent on the recitation of the entire Qur'an at the beginning of each year, with the reward returning to him, that is, the endower. He assigned this task to his eldest and most pious son, so my father took charge of it after his father's death. However, my father's wife is demanding what belongs to her from this endowment. Does she or the rest of the heirs have any share of the endowment? What is the ruling on an endowment of this form? Does it remain as it is, or is it sold and its value spent on something else? Or what else? Please guide us to what we must do. May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : I say that this endowment your grandfather made is either an endowment executed during his health, or an endowment bequeathed after his death, or an endowment made during his fatal illness. If it was a bequeathed endowment or made during his fatal illness, then only one-third of it is executed, meaning only the amount corresponding to one-third of his estate. If this endowment exceeds one-third of the estate, then the excess over the one-third returns to the heirs if they approve it; otherwise, they have the right to invalidate the endowment in that portion. As for if the endowment was made during his health, then the whole of it is executed, and no heir has the right to object to it, because a person is free to dispose of his wealth if he is in good health; he is free to dispose of it with regard to the heirs as Allah has permitted. As for what your grandfather mentioned regarding his endowment that they should recite a complete recitation of the Qur'an at the beginning of each year, it is more preferable that it be spent on what is better than that. It should be spent on the maintenance of mosques, on printing beneficial books, on spending on poor students of knowledge, and the like of these paths of good, which are better than what this endower mentioned. Diverting the endowment to a direction better than what the endower specified is permissible according to some scholars, based on the authentic hadith of the man who said, "O Messenger of Allah, I vowed that if Allah grants you victory over Makkah, I will pray two rak'ahs in al-Masjid al-Aqsa," or he said, "in Bayt al-Maqdis." The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: He repeated it to him, and he said: He repeated it to him, and he said: This is evidence that it is permissible for a person to change the direction of charity to what is better than it, even if he had previously specified the lesser one. This opinion is the stronger position, but in this case, it should be referred to the court so that there is no manipulation by the trustees of the endowments in the endowments.

The questioner : Yes, may Allah bless you.
This message is from the questioner Ahmad Tayfur Sayyid Ahmad from Sudan. He says: