A person died leaving behind money, lands, and buildings, and he has three brothers, a sister, and a wife, and he has no son or daughter. His wife wants to build a mosque in one of

The questioner : This is a message received from one of our brother listeners. He says, from Riyadh: “O esteemed Shaykh, a person died and left behind a sum of money, lands, and buildings. He has three brothers, a sister, and a wife, and he has no son or daughter. His wife wishes to build a mosque on one of his lands from his money, knowing that he died and did not bequeath anything at all. The question is: How is this to be done? Are the heirs required to relinquish their share of the money and land so that the mosque can be built, knowing that the cost of the mosque cannot be determined until the construction is completed? And is the consent of all the heirs required for this matter? May Allah reward you and the Muslims with the best reward.”

The Shaykh : When a person dies, his wealth passes to the heirs. If he did not bequeath anything, he has no right to the wealth that has passed to the heirs. Based on this, a mosque cannot be built on any of his lands from his estate unless all the sane heirs consent. If they consent, and they are all sane, there is no harm in cutting out a portion of his lands and building a mosque on that portion from his estate. Otherwise, all the properties, including real estate, money, and cash, belong to the heirs. Yes.

The questioner : May Allah bless you.