If the execution of a bequest according to the testator's text becomes impossible
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Fatwa No. ( 669 )
Q: My maternal grandfather, 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar, previously made a bequest, and the following text is included in it: "I bequeath one-third of my wealth as a means of drawing near to Allah and seeking His reward, to be used for five sacrificial animals for the duration of time, two for him, one each for his descendants and his parents, one for his son 'Abd Allah and his brothers, and two pilgrimages for himself, one Hajj each year, and a slave to be purchased and freed... until he said: 'And I appoint as the trustee of one-third of my wealth the righteous among the children of my two daughters.' The bequest is dated 4/1/1346 AH. And among what the bequest included is: freeing a slave. It is not hidden from your eminence that there is no slave now due to the prohibition of slavery. Then, the surplus of the bequest in past years, after the specified allocations, reached approximately two thousand riyals (2000). And the beneficiaries are heirs,
and considering that I am the closest of them, I would be the trustee of that through my mother, who is the daughter of the testator. I hope to be issued the final fatwa regarding this bequest.
A: Since the questioner mentioned that the testator bequeathed the freeing of a slave, and that he has accumulated approximately two thousand riyals in the past, and that slavery is prohibited, and he asks what to do with this amount, and since a similar question was asked during the lifetime of the Grand Mufti - may Allah have mercy on him - Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, and the Committee reviewed the answer, which is No. 889/1 dated 5/4/1389 AH, they deemed it sufficient as an answer to this question. This is the text of the answer: "It is incumbent upon you to execute everything your grandfather bequeathed from the proceeds of the aforementioned property. As long as it is difficult for you to find a buyer for slaves in the present time, and you have no hope of obtaining slaves for sale, what we see is: that when the purchase of slaves becomes difficult, one proceeds to what is equivalent in meaning, as mentioned by the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, from the avenues of righteousness and kindness. And Allah the Exalted, when He knows from the servant the sincerity of intention and the resolve to do what is incumbent upon him but he is unable to do, rewards him for his intention and compensates him for what he has with things He has prepared for him. And Allah the Exalted said in His clear Book:[Al-Balad 90:11-16] ,
so Allah the Exalted coupled feeding the orphan, the relative, and the destitute poor with freeing a slave, which indicates the importance of this and the greatness of its reward. In the meaning of this are a number of Qur'anic verses and Prophetic hadiths. Accordingly, you should gather the value of the slave and then give it in charity to the poorest of the relatives of the testator that you find. If there are orphans or debtors among them, they are more deserving. And it is not permissible to favor anyone with it who is not among the eligible recipients. End of the answer. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Q: My maternal grandfather, 'Abd al-Jabbar ibn 'Abd al-Rahman ibn 'Abd al-Jabbar, previously made a bequest, and the following text is included in it: "I bequeath one-third of my wealth as a means of drawing near to Allah and seeking His reward, to be used for five sacrificial animals for the duration of time, two for him, one each for his descendants and his parents, one for his son 'Abd Allah and his brothers, and two pilgrimages for himself, one Hajj each year, and a slave to be purchased and freed... until he said: 'And I appoint as the trustee of one-third of my wealth the righteous among the children of my two daughters.' The bequest is dated 4/1/1346 AH. And among what the bequest included is: freeing a slave. It is not hidden from your eminence that there is no slave now due to the prohibition of slavery. Then, the surplus of the bequest in past years, after the specified allocations, reached approximately two thousand riyals (2000). And the beneficiaries are heirs,
and considering that I am the closest of them, I would be the trustee of that through my mother, who is the daughter of the testator. I hope to be issued the final fatwa regarding this bequest.
A: Since the questioner mentioned that the testator bequeathed the freeing of a slave, and that he has accumulated approximately two thousand riyals in the past, and that slavery is prohibited, and he asks what to do with this amount, and since a similar question was asked during the lifetime of the Grand Mufti - may Allah have mercy on him - Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim, and the Committee reviewed the answer, which is No. 889/1 dated 5/4/1389 AH, they deemed it sufficient as an answer to this question. This is the text of the answer: "It is incumbent upon you to execute everything your grandfather bequeathed from the proceeds of the aforementioned property. As long as it is difficult for you to find a buyer for slaves in the present time, and you have no hope of obtaining slaves for sale, what we see is: that when the purchase of slaves becomes difficult, one proceeds to what is equivalent in meaning, as mentioned by the scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, from the avenues of righteousness and kindness. And Allah the Exalted, when He knows from the servant the sincerity of intention and the resolve to do what is incumbent upon him but he is unable to do, rewards him for his intention and compensates him for what he has with things He has prepared for him. And Allah the Exalted said in His clear Book:
(11) But he has not broken through the difficult pass. (12) And what can make you know what is [breaking through] the difficult pass? (13) It is the freeing of a slave (14) Or feeding on a day of severe hunger (15) An orphan of near relationship (16) Or a needy person in misery
فَلا اقْتَحَمَ الْعَقَبَةَ (11) وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا الْعَقَبَةُ (12) فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ (13) أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ (14) يَتِيمًا ذَا مَقْرَبَةٍ (15) أَوْ مِسْكِينًا ذَا مَتْرَبَةٍso Allah the Exalted coupled feeding the orphan, the relative, and the destitute poor with freeing a slave, which indicates the importance of this and the greatness of its reward. In the meaning of this are a number of Qur'anic verses and Prophetic hadiths. Accordingly, you should gather the value of the slave and then give it in charity to the poorest of the relatives of the testator that you find. If there are orphans or debtors among them, they are more deserving. And it is not permissible to favor anyone with it who is not among the eligible recipients. End of the answer. And success is from Allah, and may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.