—namely, the attainment of significant benefits and the prevention of serious harm and grave corruption.

The scholars then differed over the following case: a father singles out some of his children, or prefers certain ones over others, without any legitimate Sharīʿa-based justification, and dies before he can retract that special gift or the extra amount he gave. Does the donation therefore stand for the one who received it, with the sin resting solely upon the father who showed favoritism? Or may the other heirs reclaim the property from the recipient so that they all share it equally?

The majority of scholars—including the four Imams—held the first view.

According to another report from Imām Aḥmad, however, the gift does not take effect and the remaining heirs have the right to recover it. This opinion was favored by Ibn ʿAqīl, al-ʿAkbarī, Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn, the author of al-Fāʾiq, and Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb; it is also the view of ʿUrwah ibn al-Zubayr and Isḥāq.