What is the ruling on showing preference in maintenance and gifts among children?
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The questioner : Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and companions, and may peace be upon them abundantly. As for what follows, may Allah reward you with good, and grant you a great reward, and benefit me through the love of the Muslims. What is the ruling? Showing preference in maintenance between male and female children, where the maintenance for females is more than for males? May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Gifts to children. If it is to meet a need, then justice among them is to give each one what he needs. Pay attention, my brother, to the rule.
If the giving is to meet a need, then justice among the children is to give each person what he needs. Did you understand?
An example of this is a man who has two young sons, one is small and the other is older. The older one needed to get married and he had no money, so his father gave him the mahr (bridal gift), let us say the mahr is fifty thousand. The younger one does not need to get married. Do we say if you gave this one fifty thousand, you must give the second one fifty thousand? No. You do not give it to him. Because he only gave the first one because he was in need. But if the second one reaches the age of marriage, it is obligatory to give him like the first one. If the mahr has increased after the first one married, let it increase. Suppose that after the first one married and the time for the other’s marriage came, the mahr reached seventy thousand. Does he give him only fifty thousand or seventy thousand? Seventy thousand. So if the gift is for what? For the need, then let him give each person what he needs. Okay, another example: a man has two sons, one of them fell ill and needed treatment costing one hundred thousand, and the other is healthy. Do we say if he treated the sick one with one hundred thousand, he must give the second one one hundred thousand? No, because this is driven by need. A third example: a man has a son and a daughter. The daughter needs jewelry on her head, neck, hands, and chest. The value of the jewelry, let us say, is five thousand. The son needs a taqiyah (cap). Do you know a taqiyah? Do you know it? Good? Do you know it? Okay, what is the value of the taqiyah? Three riyals. Do we say if you gave the daughter five thousand for jewelry, you buy the son caps for five thousand or not? Strange, my people. No, because the intention is to meet the need. So you give the daughter five thousand for the jewelry she needs, and you give the son three riyals to buy the rest from the market. Good?
This is with regard to a pressing need. As for a gift intended as a donation or benefit, one must be equal among the children, but the male has the share of two females. So if you give the son ten, give the daughter five, because there is no division more just than the division of Allah the Exalted. And Allah the Exalted says:[An-Nisa 4:11] What is it? [An-Nisa 4:11] If someone says, "The hadith of al-Nu'man ibn Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) when his father gave him a gift, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 36:17, 'Fear Allah and be just among your children,'" the apparent meaning of the hadith is that one must be equal between males and females. Some scholars have said this, stating that equality in gifts between males and females means giving them the same amount. But we say that this is the apparent meaning, without doubt. However, in some narrations of the hadith, it is "al-k" with a nun, "al-k" with a nun? And if it is.
The Shaykh : Gifts to children. If it is to meet a need, then justice among them is to give each one what he needs. Pay attention, my brother, to the rule.
If the giving is to meet a need, then justice among the children is to give each person what he needs. Did you understand?
An example of this is a man who has two young sons, one is small and the other is older. The older one needed to get married and he had no money, so his father gave him the mahr (bridal gift), let us say the mahr is fifty thousand. The younger one does not need to get married. Do we say if you gave this one fifty thousand, you must give the second one fifty thousand? No. You do not give it to him. Because he only gave the first one because he was in need. But if the second one reaches the age of marriage, it is obligatory to give him like the first one. If the mahr has increased after the first one married, let it increase. Suppose that after the first one married and the time for the other’s marriage came, the mahr reached seventy thousand. Does he give him only fifty thousand or seventy thousand? Seventy thousand. So if the gift is for what? For the need, then let him give each person what he needs. Okay, another example: a man has two sons, one of them fell ill and needed treatment costing one hundred thousand, and the other is healthy. Do we say if he treated the sick one with one hundred thousand, he must give the second one one hundred thousand? No, because this is driven by need. A third example: a man has a son and a daughter. The daughter needs jewelry on her head, neck, hands, and chest. The value of the jewelry, let us say, is five thousand. The son needs a taqiyah (cap). Do you know a taqiyah? Do you know it? Good? Do you know it? Okay, what is the value of the taqiyah? Three riyals. Do we say if you gave the daughter five thousand for jewelry, you buy the son caps for five thousand or not? Strange, my people. No, because the intention is to meet the need. So you give the daughter five thousand for the jewelry she needs, and you give the son three riyals to buy the rest from the market. Good?
This is with regard to a pressing need. As for a gift intended as a donation or benefit, one must be equal among the children, but the male has the share of two females. So if you give the son ten, give the daughter five, because there is no division more just than the division of Allah the Exalted. And Allah the Exalted says:
Allah instructs you concerning your children
يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْfor the male, what is equal to the share of two females
لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنثَيَيْنِDid your son give you a gift like this? He said, No.
أكل ولدك نحلته مثل هذا؟ قال لا
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 6 - 41- دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام للعام 1419 هـ - الدرس السادس - الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين — youtube.com (57:19)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
