Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Respected members of the forum, I have in the past asked a few questions and found your answers very explicit and in true conformation with Quran and Sunnah. Only Allah can give Ajar for such a tremendous service to the ummah.

Rcently a question has been posed to me to which I can not find a satisfactory answer.

A 70 year old man has a wife, a son and a daughter.

His son was in need of some money and he sent his son Rs.100,000. ( the son never asked for this money). Now the father feels that as this money would have been a part of inheritence , for all his family members, it is incunmbent upon him to pay one eighth of the said amount to his wife and one third to his daughter.

What is position as per Islamic laws, should he gift a proprtionate amount to his wife and daughter or can he deem the amount paid to his son as a gift.

Do apologise for lengthy post. Thank You.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Father gift to son

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

May Allah Subhanah reward you with the best of this world and the Hereafter for your kind comments of encouragement for our humble efforts in the propagation of the Truth. If our humble and modest efforts have helped even one brother or sister get closer to Allah and His Deen of Truth, then we would consider ourselves indeed fortunate to have been given this opportunity by the Lord Most Merciful to serve in His Cause. We hope, beg, and pray the Merciful Lord accepts our humble and weak efforts, forgives us our shortcomings, and saves you, us, and all the believers from the torment of the Hell Fire. Ameen.

Your Question: A 70 year old man has a wife, a son and a daughter.

His son was in need of some money and he sent his son Rs.100,000. ( the son never asked for this money). Now the father feels that as this money would have been a part of inheritence , for all his family members, it is incunmbent upon him to pay one eighth of the said amount to his wife and one third to his daughter.

As long as the person is alive, he is the owner of his wealth and provided he does not intentionally wish to deprive his legal heirs of their inheritance rights; he is well within his rights in Islam to gift any amount from his property to anyone he wishes.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 9.85 Narrated by Umar bin Al Khattab

The Prophet (saws) said, 'O people! The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended.’

If the intent of the father to send the money to his son was so that he could deprive the rest of his inheritors of their due share decreed by Allah Subhanah, then indeed it would considered a sinful act and the father would be held accountable for his transgression in the Court of Allah Subhanah in the Hereafter.

But if the father had no such intention to deprive the rest of his inheritors, but simply wishes to gift an amount in his lifetime to his son or anyone else; he is well within his rights in Islam to do so. Thus it all depends on what was the intention of the father in giving the amount to his son in his lifetime. If he simply wishes to help his son or wanted to give his son a gift from his own wealth, there is absolutely no harm; but if the intent of giving the son the gift was so that he could deprive his future inheritors of their fair share, he has indeed done wrong and will be held accountable for his action on the Day of Judgment.

If indeed the intention of the father in giving the amount to his son was to deprive the other legal heirs of their fair share of inheritance as decreed by Allah Subhanah; he should immediately turn to His Lord in sincere repentance and seek to put the matter aright by asking his son to return the amount back to him. But if the intention of the father was not to deprive his legal heirs of their share, but only as a gesture of helping his son or anyone else, the person is well within his rights to do so and there is absolutely no sin upon him.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your Brother in Islam,

Burhan