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