DEBTS

Muhammad was scrupulous about the debts of the deceased.  That was the first charge on the property of a deceased person after the funeral expenses.  In cases where the property was not sufficient to meet the debt obligations, money was raised through contributions.  But when Muhammad became rich through conquest, he himself met these charges.  �When Allah opened the gateways of victory for him, he said: �I am nearer to the believers than themselves, so if anyone dies leaving a debt, its payment is my responsibility, and if anyone leaves a property it goes to his heirs� � (3944).

author :  ram swarup

TWO-THIRD FOR LEGAL HEIRS

The estate of a deceased person can be distributed after certain obligations, such as funeral expenses and debts incurred by the deceased, have been met.  A person who professes a religion other than Islam cannot inherit anything from a Muslim, and vice versa (3928).  Another principle of inheritance is that �the male is equal of the portion of two females� (3933).

Muhammad says that one can will only one-third of one�s property; the remaining two-thirds must go to the legal heirs.  Muhammad visited Sa�d b. AbI WaqqAs, on his deathbed.  Sa�d had only one daughter.  He wanted to know whether he could will two-thirds or half of his property in sadaqa (charity).  The Prophet replied: �Give one third, and that is quite enough.  To leave your heirs rich is better than to leave them poor, begging from people� (3991).

author : ram swarup

WAQF

Muhammad favored waqf, i.e., the dedication of the corpus of a property to Allah.  �Umar told Muhammad: �I have acquired land in Khaibar [the land of the defeated Jews, which had now been conferred on the Companions]. I have never acquired property more valuable for me than this, so what do you command me to do with it? Thereupon, Allah�s Apostle said: If you like, you may keep the corpus intact and give its produce as sadaqa. . . . �Umar devoted it to the poor, to the nearest kin, and to the emancipation of slaves, and in the way of Allah and guests� (4006).

author : ram swarup

GIFTS

Anything given as a gift or charity should not be taken back.  �Umar had donated a horse in the Path of Allah (i.e., for jihAd).  He found that the horse was languishing in the hands of the recipient, who was very poor, and considered buying it back.  �Don�t buy it back. . . . for he who gets back the charity is like a dog which swallows its vomit,� Muhammad told him (3950).

author : ram swarup

The next three books are the �Book of Inheritances� (al-fara�id), the �Book of Gifts� (al-hibAt), and the �Book of Bequests� (al-wasIyya).  In some ways, they are interrelated.  The laws deriving from them are complicated, and we need not go beyond mentioning them here.

author : ram swarup

RIBA

Muhammad also forbade ribA, which includes both usury and interest.  He �cursed the accepter of interest and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses�; and he said: �They are all equal� (3881).

Though he forbade interest, Muhammad himself sent AbU Bakr to the QainuqA tribe of Medina with a message bidding them to �lend to God at good interest,� using the very words of the QurAn, �to lend to God a goodly loan� (5:12).  When they rebuffed him, their fate was sealed, and they were driven away from their homes.

author : ram swarup

BARTER DISAPPROVED

In some matters, the Prophet was modern.  He disapproved of the barter system and in its place stood for money-exchange.  The collector of the revenues from Khaibar once brought Muhammad some fine dates.  Muhammad asked whether all the dates of Khaibar were of such fine quality.  The collector said: �No.  We got one sA [of fine dates] for two sAs [of inferior dates].� Muhammad disapprovingly replied: �Don�t do that; rather sell the inferior quality of dates for dirhams[money], and then buy the superior quality with the help of dirhams� (3870).

author : ram swarup

IMPROPER EARNINGS

Muhammad also �forbade the charging of price of the dog, and earnings of a prostitute and sweets offered to a KAhin[soothsayer]� (3803).  He said that �the worst earning is the earning of a prostitute, the price of a dog and the earning of a cupper� (3805).

Muhammad had a great dislike for dogs.  He said: �It is your duty to kill the jet-black [dog] having two spots [on the eyes], for it is a devil� (3813).  �Abdullah, �Umar�s son, tells us that the Prophet �ordered to kill dogs, and he sent men to the corners of Medina that they should be killed. . . . and we did not spare any dog that we did not kill� (3810, 3811).  Later on, on representation, an exception was made in the case of dogs meant for hunting and for protecting the herds.  With the exception of these dogs, anyone who kept a dog �lost two qIrAt [the name of a measure] of reward every day� (3823).

Muhammad also forbade the sale of wine, carcasses, swine, and idols.  �May Allah the Exalted and Majestic destroy the Jews; when Allah forbade the use of fat of the carcass for them [see Leviticus 3:17], they melted it, and then sold it and made use of its price� (3840).

author : ram swarup

THE PROPHET AS A LANDLORD

Several ahAdIs (3758-3763) show that Muhammad�s own business practices could be sharp.  �Abdullah, the son of �Umar, reports that �when Khaibar had been conquered, it came under the sway of Allah, that of his Messenger and that of the Muslims� (3763).  Muhammad made an agreement with the Jews of Khaibar that they could retain the date-palms and the land on the condition that they worked them with their own wealth (seeds, implements) and gave �half of the yield to Allah�s Messenger� (3762).  Out of this half, �Allah�s Apostle got the fifth part,� and the rest was �distributed� (3761).  This lends credence to the common observation that those who control the funds, whether in the name of Allah or the state or the poor, are apt to spend them first on themselves.

These acquisitions enabled Muhammad to give each of his wives 100 wasqs (1 wasq = about 425 English pounds), 80 wasqs of dates, and 20 wasqs of barley per year.  When �Umar became the KhalIfa he distributed the land and gave the wives of Allah�s Apostle the option of taking the land or the yearly wasqs.  Their reactions to this offer differed.  �Aisha and Hafza, two wives of the Prophet, �opted for land and water� (3759).

author : ram swarup

TENANCY

Muhammad also forbade the leasing of land.  �He who has land should cultivate it, but if he does not find it possible, he should lend it to his Muslim brother, but he should not accept rent from him� (3719).

author : ram swarup