Accordingly, if we found someone who had established an endowment for his sons and then died, the position of the school is that the endowment should be administered as he stipulated, since this is not a complete gift: the beneficiary of an endowment cannot dispose of it by selling or buying it. It may be said, however, that the beneficiary does benefit from its yield.

The stronger view is that we annul this endowment and do not validate it, and that the endowed property returns to the heirs, due to the Prophet’s saying: “Whoever performs an act that is not in accordance with this matter of ours, it is rejected” (1). It may be argued that it remains an endowment for both the sons and daughters, since the endower removed it from his ownership and transferred it to their ownership. Yet the first possibility is more likely: namely, that the endowment is invalidated, because it is an act not sanctioned by the command of Allah and His Messenger; rather, it is contrary to the command of Allah and His Messenger.

His statement, “or the sons of so-and-so,” means to the exclusion of his daughters. It is permissible, though not obligatory, to treat them equally, and this is agreed upon unanimously. Thus, if he says, “This is an endowment for the sons of Abdullah,” it is restricted to the males, because it is said, “Abdullah has sons and daughters,” and people distinguish between sons and daughters. Therefore, if he says, “This is an endowment for the sons of Abdullah,” referring to a particular person, it is for the males to the exclusion of the females. This is what the wording denotes, and it takes effect, because the gift in this case is not for his own children, but for the children of someone else. Thus, the endowment is given to the sons of Abdullah, to the exclusion of Abdullah’s daughters.

“Unless they constitute a tribe, in which case women are included, but not their children by other men. His relatives, members of his household, and his people include both males and females among his children and the children of his father, grandfather, and paternal grandfather, ...”

His statement, “Unless they constitute a tribe, in which case women are included, but not their children by other men”: for example, Banu Tamim. If he says, “This is an endowment for Banu Tamim,”