Al-Sharḥ al-Mumtiʿ - Ibn al-'Uthaymin - (11/33)

Al-Sharḥ al-MumtiʿIbn al-'Uthaymin

Section

The endower’s stipulations must be observed regarding combining beneficiaries, giving precedence, the reverse of these, considering a particular attribute or not considering it, ordering, administration, and other such matters. ……………

His statement, “The endower’s stipulations must be observed,” means that this is binding upon whoever is the administrator of the endowment. An explanation of who the administrator is will follow.

His statement, “the endower’s stipulations,” means whatever he has stipulated in terms of an attribute, restriction, unrestricted wording, designated purpose, or otherwise. In this matter, one does not refer to the administrator’s opinion; rather, one refers to what the endower stipulated, and it must be acted upon provided that it does not contravene the Sacred Law. The evidence is that Allah, Exalted is He, says concerning a bequest:

“And whoever alters it after hearing it, the sin shall only be upon those who alter it. Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” [al-Baqarah]

Thus, Allah, Most High, has made clear that whoever alters the condition stipulated by someone in transferring his property, after hearing it, bears the sin. He also warned against alteration by saying, “Indeed, Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing.” It is also established in the sunnah that Umar stipulated certain conditions when making his endowment at Khaybar (1). Had it not been obligatory to implement them, there would have been no benefit in his stipulating them.

The reasoning is that the endower has removed this endowed property from his ownership upon a particular condition; therefore, it is not permissible to divert it to something else.

The apparent meaning of the author’s words is that this is not permissible, even if doing so would be better. The scholars have differed over this issue.

Some of them say: if the endower has stipulated conditions for the endowment, but the administrator considers other conditions to be more beneficial to the people and more rewarding for the endower, then there is nothing wrong with directing it elsewhere.

As for the first group, they say: this man has removed this property from his ownership

(1) Its source has been cited previously on p. 6.

فَصْلٌ ويَجِبُ العَمَلُ بِشَرْطِ الوَاقِفِ فِي جَمْعٍ وَتَقْدِيمٍ وَضِدِّ ذَلِكَ واعْتِبَارِ وَصْفٍ وَعَدَمِهِ وَتَرْتِيبٍ وَنَظَرٍ وَغَيْرِ ذَلِكَ، .............. قوله: «ويجب العمل بشرط الواقف»، أي: على من كان ناظراً على الوقف، وسيأتي بيان من هو الناظر. وقوله: «بشرط الواقف»، أي: بما شرط من وصف أو قيد أو إطلاق أو جهة أو غير ذلك، فلا يُرجع في ذلك إلى رأي الناظر، بل إلى ما شرط الواقف، فيُعمل به بشرط ألاّ يخالف الشرع، والدليل: أن الله ﷿ قال في الوصية: ﴿فَمَنْ بَدَّلَهُ بَعْدَمَا سَمِعَهُ فَإِنَّمَا إِثْمُهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يُبَدِّلُونَهُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ *﴾ [البقرة]، فبيَّن الله ـ تعالى ـ أن من بدل الشرط الذي اشترطه في نقل ملكه بعدما سمعه فعليه الإثم، وهدد من التبديل بقوله: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾، ومن السنة أن عمر ﵁ اشترط في إيقافه في خيبر شروطاً (١)، ولولا أنه يجب تنفيذها لكان اشتراطه لها لا فائدة منه. والتعليل لأن الواقف أخرج ملكه عن هذا الموقوف على وصف معين، فلا يجوز أن يتجاوز به إلى غيره. وظاهر كلام المؤلف أنه لا يجوز ولو كان ذلك فيما هو أفضل، وهذه المسألة اختلف فيها العلماء: فمنهم من يقول: إن الواقف إذا شرط شروطاً في الوقف، ورأى الناظر أن غير هذه الشروط أنفع للعباد، وأكثر أجراً للمُوقف، فإنه لا بأس أن يصرفه إلى غيره. أما الأولون فقالوا: إن هذا الرجل أخرج ملكه عن هذا

(١) سبق تخريجه ص (٦).