A Benefit in Clarifying That When a Person Makes a Bequest, It Is Better to Have Witnesses to What He Bequeathed
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The Shaykh : And in this hadith is a clarification of what distinguishes the Salaf (the earliest generations) from the Khalaf (the later generations), which is the eagerness of the Companions to respond to the commands and desires of the Messenger (peace be upon him) for his Ummah (the Muslim community). You have heard the statement of Nafi', who was the freed slave of 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar, the one who narrated this hadith, that after 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar heard this hadith, he did not spend a night without his bequest written down beneath him, under his head.
On this occasion, it is obligatory to have witnesses when writing a bequest. This witnessing was sufficient in previous times before some modern systems entered our lands. There is no doubt that some of these systems are acceptable, but nevertheless, I believe that their entry into our lands is due to our distance from our religion. Previously, it was sufficient for one of us to write a small piece of paper as a bequest for what he wanted, sign it, and have two just and trustworthy witnesses testify to it. That was it; it became a document as if it were from the Court of Justice, the Sharia Court. But today, if you write dozens of bequests and have dozens of just witnesses testify to them, they have no value unless they are registered with them there. In reality, this is a punishment from Allah (Mighty and Majestic); the further we move away from our lenient and easy Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law), the more we are punished with the complication of our transactions through such restrictions. And it is necessary to do so, otherwise rights are truly lost. But I remind you that we are the cause of such complications that have become systems and laws.
After this authentic hadith come weak hadiths: the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. Then comes the eighth hadith, which is the last hadith in this chapter from the authentic ones, and after it are two weak hadiths. So we conclude this chapter with this authentic hadith.
On this occasion, it is obligatory to have witnesses when writing a bequest. This witnessing was sufficient in previous times before some modern systems entered our lands. There is no doubt that some of these systems are acceptable, but nevertheless, I believe that their entry into our lands is due to our distance from our religion. Previously, it was sufficient for one of us to write a small piece of paper as a bequest for what he wanted, sign it, and have two just and trustworthy witnesses testify to it. That was it; it became a document as if it were from the Court of Justice, the Sharia Court. But today, if you write dozens of bequests and have dozens of just witnesses testify to them, they have no value unless they are registered with them there. In reality, this is a punishment from Allah (Mighty and Majestic); the further we move away from our lenient and easy Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law), the more we are punished with the complication of our transactions through such restrictions. And it is necessary to do so, otherwise rights are truly lost. But I remind you that we are the cause of such complications that have become systems and laws.
After this authentic hadith come weak hadiths: the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh. Then comes the eighth hadith, which is the last hadith in this chapter from the authentic ones, and after it are two weak hadiths. So we conclude this chapter with this authentic hadith.