He divided his wealth before he died and he gave to some of his children and not others

Question: 72793

My father divided all that he owned, which is the house in which we grew up and his possessions, between three of his children and not the others, i.e., two sisters, one brother and myself.

My brothers are well off, but my brother and I are working abroad for a salary and my sisters are married. When this division was done and they took possession, we were abroad. Despite that, we have not done anything to anger our parents. The evidence is that they pray for us and say that they forgive us. Is it permissible for my father to give to one child and not the other in such a matter? What do you advise us to say to our parents? We have heard that this action is against sharee’ah.

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly:

What your
father has done is to give to some of his children and not to others, and it
cannot be regarded sharing out his wealth among his heirs when he is still
alive, because he has not given to all his heirs, rather he has singled out
some of his children.

Singling out
some of one’s children for gifts for no reason is haraam.

The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) refused to bear witness to
such as gift, and he called it injustice. That is according to the report
narrated by al-Bukhaari (2586) and Muslim (1623) from al-Nu’maan ibn Basheer
(may Allaah be pleased with him), who said that his father brought him to
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and
said: “I have given a slave to this son of mine.” He said: “Have you given a
similar gift to all your children?” He said: “No.” He said: “Then take it
back.”

Al-Bukhaari
(2587) narrated that ‘Aamir said: I heard al-Nu’maan ibn Basheer (may Allaah
be pleased with him) on the minbar saying: “My father gave me a gift and
‘Amrah bint Rawaahah (his mother) said: ‘I will not be happy until you ask
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to
bear witness.’ So he went to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: ‘I have given a gift to my son
from ‘Amrah bint Rawaahah, and she told me to ask you to bear witness, O
Messenger of Allaah.’ He said: ‘Have you given a similar gift to all your
children?’ He said: ‘No.’ He said: ‘Fear Allaah and treat your children
fairly.’ So he came back and took back his gift.”

According to
a report also narrated by al-Bukhaari (2651), the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Do not ask me to bear witness to
injustice.”

According to
a report narrated by Muslim (1623), al-Nu’maan ibn Basheer (may Allaah be
pleased with him) said: My father took me to the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of
Allaah, bear witness that I have given such and such of my wealth to
al-Nu’maan.” He said: “Did you give to all your children the same as you
have given to al-Nu’maan?” He said: “No.” He said: “Let someone else bear
witness to that for you.” Then he said: “Would you not like all your
children to honour you equally?” He said: “Yes.” He said: “Then no (I will
not bear witness).”

Secondly:

The one who
has committed such an injustice must repent to Allaah and take back his
gift, or give something similar to all his children, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Take it back.”

Ibn Qudaamah
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said: A man must be fair in giving gifts to
his children, and not single out one of them or do anything to indicate that
he prefers one of them over another. If he singles out one of them for
giving, or he shows that he prefer one over another, then he is sinning, and
he must treat them all fairly by means of one of two things, either taking
back what he gave to some in exclusion of others, or giving to the others.
Tawoos said: That is not permissible, not even if you show preference to one
by giving him a burned loaf of bread (that you do not give to the others).
This was also the view of Ibn al-Mubaarak, and something similar was
narrated from Mujaahid, and ‘Urwah. End quote from al-Mughni
(5/387).

If the ones
who were not given anything agree to that willingly, then there is no sin on
the father for singling out some of his children, because the right belonged
to their siblings, and it is waived if they agree. But it is better for him
not to do that even if they agree.

Shaykh Ibn
Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

The father
must treat his children fairly, both males and females, according to the
guidelines on inheritance. It is not permissible for him to single out some
of them for something and not the others, unless that is with the approval
of those who are not given anything, if they are of sound mind, and they are
not agreeing out of fear of their father, rather they are agreeing
willingly, without any threat from their father or fear on the part of the
child. But not differentiating between them is better in all cases and is
more conducive to harmony, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “Fear Allaah and treat your children fairly.”
Saheeh – agreed upon.

End quote
from Fataawa al-Shaykh Ibn Baaz (20/51).

Thirdly:

In the
answer to question no. 36872 we stated that there is nothing wrong with
giving to some of one’s children and not others if there is a reason for
doing that, such as if he is in need and is poor, or if he is a seeker of
knowledge and so on. If there is a shar’i reason for your father singling
out these siblings for gifts, then there is no sin on him. But if there is
no shar’i reason and you do not agree to that, then he has to take back the
gift and treat you all fairly.

Fourthly:

If you do
not agree to that, then you must advise your father kindly and explain to
him that he has to treat you all fairly. You may need to explain that to him
with the shar’i evidence, which has been explained in the answer to question
no. 67652.

And Allaah
knows best.

Source:

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