exactly like those of a healthy person: any gift he makes is valid with respect to his entire estate, even if the illness later develops into a life-threatening condition and he dies from it. The ruling depends on his state at the moment of the donation, and at that time he was legally regarded as sound.

Second: a life-threatening illness—one from which death is normally expected. In such an illness, a patient’s donations and gifts are executed only from one third of his wealth, not the whole of it. If the amount lies within that third or less, the gift is effective; if it exceeds that limit, it becomes effective only with the heirs’ approval after his death. The Prophet ﷺ said: “Indeed, Allah has granted you, at the time of your death, the right to dispose of one third of your wealth as charity, thereby increasing your good deeds,” related by Ibn Mājah and al-Dāraquṭnī.

This ḥadīth and other texts of similar import establish permission to dispose of up to one third of one’s estate when death is imminent, which is the view of the majority of scholars. Because death is overwhelmingly likely in a life-threatening illness, a gift taken from the entire estate would wrong the heirs, so it is reduced to one third, like a bequest.

The same financial ruling applies in any circumstance of imminent danger—such as when plague has struck one’s town, when a person stands between the two battle lines, or when he is adrift on a storm-tossed sea. In these situations, any donation exceeding one third of the estate is not valid unless the heirs ratify it after his death; nor may he, while in that condition, give anything to one of his heirs without the others’ consent if he dies in that state. Should he recover from the life-threatening illness, all of his gifts take effect, for the impediment has disappeared.