Q. A wealthy man died, leaving behind two sons and five daughters. Before his death, he wrote a letter in which he emphasized to his children that they must implement as it was. After his death, his heirs learned from his letter that he left his daughters equal amounts of money, but he left the bulk of his wealth to his two sons. He told all his children that he wanted them to abide by his wishes and that he would be utterly displeased with them if they were to go to court over this. His daughters feel hard done by and seem unable to determine whether to go to court or not. Please advise.
Zainab
A. Islam makes clear that all wealth belongs to God. Whatever we have is His no matter how we come into it. We are simply placed in charge of it for the duration of our lives. When we die, we no longer have any say over how it is divided. Out of His grace, He has allowed us to dispense with a portion of it not exceeding one-third. We can give this away, by will, to relatives and others who are in need. Immediate relatives, like parents and children, are heirs who have their shares apportioned by God Almighty. No one can disinherit any of his heirs or increase or decrease their shares.
What this man did was to dictate his inheritance as he judged fit, depriving his daughters of a portion of their shares in the process and increasing his sons’ shares. This is not open to him, or indeed to anyone, to decide. It is a challenge to God.
His sons will be very unkind to their father if they try to enforce his will. They should be the ones who relinquish what he had given them, because it is not up to him to give. If they do not, they will be his partners in the injustice suffered by their sisters. What they should do is to pool their father’s property together and divide it in 9 equal shares. Each of the two sons takes two shares while one share goes to each of his five daughters. If they do this, they will not only release their father of the injustice he committed, but they will also gain God’s reward for their action, which is far greater than what they lose, and they gain their sisters’ love. These are far more valuable than the money and property they get from their father against God’s law.
The Criterion of Distinction
Q. I read in a book that the Prophet said during his farewell pilgrimage the following statement: “No Arab has Superiority over any non-Arab, and no non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; no dark person has superiority over a white person and no white person has any superiority over a dark person. The criterion of honor in the sight of God is righteousness and honest living”. May I request you to give me the source of this Hadith?
M. Ali
A. This is a well known and often quoted statement made by the Prophet (peace be upon him) in his address to the people on the grand day of his pilgrimage, which is often termed as the farewell pilgrimage. In his speech, he outlined the basic principles of Islam, one of which is human equality that includes all men and women, regardless of any qualities that set them in different groupings. The speech is given with slight variations in all major anthologies of hadith, as well as the biographies of the Prophet. The wording you have used is rather longer than the Arabic original, but this may be a paraphrase of the Prophet’s statement, but the message is the same.
In all communities, people agree certain criteria of distinction. These may work for them. Islam, however, prefers the criteria that it has set for its community. Distinction is only achieved through adherence to Islamic values and observing Islamic duties and practices. In addition, a person achieves distinction through dedicated efforts to serve the cause of Islam. Otherwise, all people are equal, regardless of color, race, or ethnicity.
