A woman bequeathed to her son upon her death that he should dispose of one-third of her wealth as he wished, so he invested it and began offering sacrifices on her behalf. Is that permissible for him, or should he make it ongoing charity?

The questioner : He says: A man’s mother passed away, and upon her death she said to him: “I bequeath one-third, and you are free to dispose of this one-third as you wish.” So this son invested this money until it grew. He used to take out her sacrifice from this money for a period of time, but after a while, he began taking out her sacrifice from his own money at times, and sometimes he left it with his own sacrifice. The question is: should he invest this money and increase it, or should he make this money ongoing charity for her, such as placing it in building a mosque, providing water, or the like? Guide us, may Allah preserve you, to the path in which, if he places this money in it, this deceased person benefits from it?

The Shaykh : I say to the brother, may Allah reward him with good for his action and for his excellence in investing this money, but I say to him: place it in a mosque from now on. Because investing the money, while it does result in an increase in the wealth, causes a great deal of reward to be missed during this period. And the reward is more important than the money. So what I see is that he should place it in a mosque so that this woman may have its reward from now on.