Is it permissible for the head of the household to prefer some heirs over others?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Is it permissible for the head of the household to prefer some heirs over others? We ask your eminence for guidance.
The Shaykh : It is permissible for a person to prefer some of his heirs over others if this preference is made while he is in good health, except in the case of his children, for it is not permissible for him to prefer some of them over others, except between a male and a female, in which case he gives the male twice what he gives the female, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):Sahih al-Bukhari 2587 So if a person gives one of his sons, for example, one hundred dirhams, it is obligatory for him to give the other sons based on one hundred dirhams, and to give the daughters based on fifty dirhams, or to return the one hundred dirhams he gave to the first son, meaning to take them back from him. Yes, if it is assumed that all his children, both males and females, have reached maturity and have allowed him to prefer some over others, then there is nothing wrong with that. And what we have mentioned is regarding matters other than the obligatory maintenance. As for the obligatory maintenance, he gives each of them what they are entitled to. So if it happens that one of his sons needs to get married, and he marries him and pays the mahr because the son is unable to pay the mahr himself, then in this case, he is not obligated to give the others the same as he gave to the one who needed to get married and paid... the mahr, because marriage is part of maintenance. And on this occasion, I would like to point out an issue that some people do out of ignorance: they have children who have reached the age of marriage, so they marry them, and they have other children who are young, so they bequeath to them after their death the same amount they used to marry the children who reached the age of marriage. This is haram and not permissible, because this bequest would be a bequest to an heir, and a bequest to an heir is forbidden. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sunan Abi Dawud 2870Hasan Sahih (Al-Albani) If he says: "I bequeathed this money to them because I have already married their brothers with the same amount," we say: If these young ones reach the age of marriage before you die, then marry them just as you married their brothers. And if they do not reach the age of marriage, then it is not obligatory for you to marry them. So I hope people will pay attention to this. Yes.
The questioner : The listener who indicated his name with the initials N A A says.
The Shaykh : It is permissible for a person to prefer some of his heirs over others if this preference is made while he is in good health, except in the case of his children, for it is not permissible for him to prefer some of them over others, except between a male and a female, in which case he gives the male twice what he gives the female, based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him):
Be afraid of Allah, and be just to your children.
اتقوا الله واعدلوا بين أولادكمAllah has appointed for everyone who has a right what is due to him, and no bequest must be made to an heir.
إن الله أعطى كل ذي حق حقه فلا وصية لوارثThe questioner : The listener who indicated his name with the initials N A A says.