Text copied Link copied

Al-Fatawa – home

﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

Scholar
Search mode

Carrying out a father's bequest if it leads to fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) or sin

Machine translationRead the Arabic original
A man bequeathed to his eldest son before he died that he should not marry off his younger sisters until they graduated from university; because men today are not to be trusted, as they marry women and divorce them whenever they wish, leaving the woman with no power or strength. If she studies and graduates from university and separation occurs between her and her husband, she can get a job and become independent of asking people for help. After the father’s death, his sisters grew up, and he feared fitnah (trial, discord or temptation) for his sisters in entering university due to the presence of free mixing of men and women, corruption, and the like. Is it permissible for him not to carry out his father’s bequest? And if the answer is (yes), what do you say about His saying, the Exalted:
Then whoever alters the bequest after he has heard it - the sin is only upon those who have altered itفَمَنْ بَدَّلَهُ بَعْدَ مَا سَمِعَهُ فَإِنَّمَا إِثْمُهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يُبَدِّلُونَهُ
[al-Baqarah: 181]? May Allah reward you with good?

I say: This bequest has no standing and is not to be acted upon. Rather, whenever a suitable man proposes to the woman and she is pleased with him, she marries him, and her father’s bequest has no standing.

And as for His saying (the Exalted):
Then whoever alters the bequest after he has heard itفَمَنْ بَدَّلَهُ بَعْدَ مَا سَمِعَهُ
[al-Baqarah: 181] The intended meaning here is a beneficial bequest,As for anything other than that, Allah the Exalted said:
But if one fears from the bequeather [some] error or sin and corrects that which is between them, there is no sin upon himفَمَنْ خَافَ مِنْ مُوصٍ جَنَفاً أَوْ إِثْماً فَأَصْلَحَ بَيْنَهُمْ فَلا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ
[al-Baqarah: 182] And this is undoubtedly a deviation,So this young woman wants to marry, and we say: No, until you graduate from university, and we do not know; perhaps you will fail twice or three times and remain for years. The important point is that this bequest is unjust and is not to be carried out.
Source shamela.ws

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

Similar fatwas