Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (10/391)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

If he has no property, then his maintenance is paid from the public treasury. The finder is the one who manages his daily expenses according to what the child’s welfare requires.

His statement, “His inheritance and blood money belong to the public treasury,” means that his “inheritance,” if he leaves behind property, and his “blood money,” if he is killed accidentally or deliberately and blood money is chosen, belong to the public treasury, because he has no heir. The causes of inheritance are three: marriage, lineage, and patronage through manumission. This child has none of these causes: neither marriage, lineage, nor patronage; therefore, his inheritance belongs to the public treasury.

If this foundling marries and has children, his inheritance belongs to his heirs: to his wife, if she remains married to him, and to his children. But if he does not marry, his inheritance belongs to the public treasury.

If he is killed, his blood money belongs to the public treasury, because blood money is treated as inherited property. Thus, if a person bequeaths one-third of his estate and we calculate his wealth after he has been killed, we add the blood money to the estate, and one-third of the blood money is distributed just as one-third is distributed from the rest of the property. This is the well-known position of the school.

The second view is that his inheritance and blood money belong to his finder. This is the correct view, based on a hadith reported by the compilers of the Sunan, in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “A woman takes possession of three: her freed slave, her foundling, and the child concerning whom she invoked mutual condemnation with her husband.” (1) This was also the view preferred by Shaykh al-Islam, may Allah have mercy on him. It is well known that this is more appropriate than placing it in the public treasury,

(1) Reported by Imam Ahmad (3/490, 106); Abu Dawud, Book of Inheritance, chapter: “The Inheritance of the Son Born through Li'an” (2906); al-Tirmidhi, Book of Inheritance, chapter: “What Women Inherit through Wala'” (2115); and Ibn Majah, Book of Inheritance, chapter: “A Woman Acquires Three Inheritances” (2742), on the authority of Wathilah ibn al-Asqa'. Al-Hakim authenticated it (4/341), and al-Dhahabi concurred. See also Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar (12/32), Dar al-Rayyan edition; and al-Irwa' (1576).

فإن لم يكن معه مال فمن بيت المال، والواجد هو الذي يدبر النفقة اليومية حسب ما تقتضيه المصلحة. قوله: «وميراثه وديته لبيت المال» «ميراثه» إن خلف مالاً «وديته» إن قُتِل خطأ أو عمداً واختيرت الدية لبيت المال؛ لأنه ليس له وارث، وأسباب الإرث ثلاثة: النكاح، والنسب، والولاء، وهذا ليس له سبب، لا نكاح ولا نسب ولا ولاء فيكون ميراثه لبيت المال. ولو تزوج هذا اللقيط وأتاه أولاد فميراثه لورثته، للزوجة إن بقيت معه ولأولاده، لكن إذا لم يتزوج فميراثه يكون لبيت المال. وديته إن قتل فهي لبيت المال؛ لأن الدية في حكم الموروث، ولهذا لو أوصى الإنسان بثلثه وأحصينا ماله بعد أن قتل، فإننا نضم الدية إلى المال، ويخرج ثلث الدية كما يخرج الثلث من بقية المال، وهذا هو المشهور من المذهب. والقول الثاني: أن ميراثه وديته لواجده، وهو الصحيح لحديث رواه أهل السنة وهو قول النبي ﷺ: «تحوز المرأة ثلاثة: عتيقها، ولقيطها، وولدها الذي لاعنت عليه» (١) وهو اختيار شيخ الإسلام ﵀ ومعلوم أن هذا أولى من أن نجعله في بيت

(١) أخرجه الإمام أحمد (٣/ ٤٩٠، ١٠٦)؛ وأبو داود في الفرائض/ باب ميراث ابن الملاعنة (٢٩٠٦)؛ والترمذي في الفرائض/ باب ما جاء ما يرث النساء من الولاء (٢١١٥)؛ وابن ماجه في الفرائض/ باب تحوز المرأة ثلاث مواريث (٢٧٤٢) عن واثلة بن الأسقع ﵁؛ وصححه الحاكم (٤/ ٣٤١) ووافقه الذهبي، وانظر: فتح الباري لابن حجر (١٢/ ٣٢) ط/دار الريان؛ والإرواء (١٥٧٦).