The questioner says: I am an Egyptian woman, married for 32 years, and I am still with my husband. I have a daughter and a son. The daughter is married, and the son will get married, if Allah wills.
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The questioner : I am an Egyptian woman, married for thirty-two years, and I am still with my husband. I have a daughter and a son. The daughter is married, and the son will get married, if Allah wills. I have a house with three floors and six apartments. I am a woman who believes in Allah; I have not missed a single obligatory prayer, and I worship Allah with all the worship He has commanded me to perform. I have a matter in which I want you to benefit me, may Allah reward you with good. I want to write the house over to my daughter and son and exclude my husband from the inheritance. So I asked some people, and some of them said to me: Perhaps you will die before your husband, and he will inherit it. And perhaps he will marry after you, and the one he marries will inherit from it, and she will become a stranger who takes the share that your children would have taken. And some said: It is forbidden; after your death, they will be expelled from the house, and the ones who will cause their expulsion are the strangers, namely your daughter’s husband and your son’s wife. We ask for guidance in this matter. May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. I have some observations regarding what came in this woman’s question. Among them is that she said, “I am a lady,” and she repeated this twice. The word “lady” has now become a general description for every woman, even if she does not deserve anything of lordship. It has become a custom synonymous with the word “woman.” And in my opinion, this was adopted from non-Muslims, because the expressions of Muslims taken from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not include describing a woman as a “lady.” This only happened recently. So what I see is that a woman should be called a woman, or a female, or a girl, or an old woman if she is elderly, or something similar. As for taking the word “lady,” which indicates nobility, honor, and prominence, and using it for every woman, that is something that should not be done.
And among the observations is that she described herself with a description indicating self-praise, where she said that she is a woman who obeys Allah in everything He has commanded. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says:[An-Najm 53:32].
As for the answer to her question, which is that she wants to write her house over to her children without her husband: if this writing is a bequest, meaning she wants to bequeath this house to her children after her death, then that is forbidden. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:. And Allah (Exalted is He) has made inheritance obligatory and said: [An-Nisa 4:13-14]. And if a person bequeaths to one of his heirs more than his share of the inheritance, he has transgressed the limits of Allah. But if she writes the house over to her children during her lifetime by gifting it to them during her lifetime without her husband, then there is nothing wrong with that, provided that she is healthy at the time of the gift and not suffering from the fatal illness of death. If so, her gift of her house to her children without her husband is a valid gift. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you. The listener Ahmad from Syria, Deir al-Zour, asks: O honorable Shaykh, in a long message, and he says, in summary: To our distinguished scholars, I want a solution and a request for help with this problem of mine. O honorable Shaykh, I have...
The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions. I have some observations regarding what came in this woman’s question. Among them is that she said, “I am a lady,” and she repeated this twice. The word “lady” has now become a general description for every woman, even if she does not deserve anything of lordship. It has become a custom synonymous with the word “woman.” And in my opinion, this was adopted from non-Muslims, because the expressions of Muslims taken from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) did not include describing a woman as a “lady.” This only happened recently. So what I see is that a woman should be called a woman, or a female, or a girl, or an old woman if she is elderly, or something similar. As for taking the word “lady,” which indicates nobility, honor, and prominence, and using it for every woman, that is something that should not be done.
And among the observations is that she described herself with a description indicating self-praise, where she said that she is a woman who obeys Allah in everything He has commanded. And Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says:
So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.
فَلا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىAs for the answer to her question, which is that she wants to write her house over to her children without her husband: if this writing is a bequest, meaning she wants to bequeath this house to her children after her death, then that is forbidden. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
There is no bequest for an heir
لا وصية لوارث(13) These are the limits [set by] Allah, and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger will be admitted by Him to gardens [in Paradise] under which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great attainment. (14) And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger and transgresses His limits - He will put him into the Fire to abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment.
تِلْكَ حُدُودُ اللَّهِ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ يُدْخِلْهُ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي مِنْ تَحْتِهَا الأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا وَذَلِكَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ * وَمَنْ يَعْصِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُ يُدْخِلْهُ نَارًا خَالِدًا فِيهَا وَلَهُ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌThe questioner : May Allah bless you. The listener Ahmad from Syria, Deir al-Zour, asks: O honorable Shaykh, in a long message, and he says, in summary: To our distinguished scholars, I want a solution and a request for help with this problem of mine. O honorable Shaykh, I have...