Mālik was told, “Shurayh did not approve of endowments and used to say, ‘No endowment may override Allah’s prescribed shares of inheritance.’” Mālik replied, “Shurayh spoke in his own land. He had not come to Medina to see the precedents of the eminent figures among the Prophet’s wives, peace and blessings be upon him, his Companions, and the Successors after them—and so on down to this day. No one impugns the endowments they made from their wealth. Here are the Prophet’s charitable endowments, peace be upon him: seven orchards. A person should speak only about matters of which he has thorough knowledge.”

Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, also used this argument when debating Abū Yūsuf in the presence of al-Rashīd. He said, “These are the endowments and charitable gifts of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, handed down by successive generations, one after another.” Abū Yūsuf then said, “Abū Hanīfah used to say that they were not permissible, but I say that they are permissible.” He immediately abandoned Abū Hanīfah’s position and adopted the view that they were permissible.

It is related that a man from Iraq asked Mālik about a charitable endowment. He replied, “Once possession of it has been taken, it takes effect.” The Iraqi said, “Shurayh said, ‘No endowment may override the Book of Allah.’” Mālik, may Allah have mercy on him, laughed—though he seldom laughed—and said, “May Allah have mercy on Shurayh! Had he known what the Companions of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, did here, he would not have said that.”

The later followers of Abū Hanīfah refrained from declaring endowments invalid without qualification. They said, “An endowment is permissible, but it becomes binding only through one of two things: either a judge rules in its favour, or its founder directs in his will, during his illness, that it be established after his death. It is then valid and comes out of one-third of his estate, like a bequest. The exception is a mosque or a watering facility: an endowment of either is valid without requiring a judge’s ruling.”

This is far-fetched, for whatever a man may not lawfully do during his lifetime, he may not direct to be done after his death; and a judge’s ruling cannot make lawful what is unlawful. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says:

“Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, nor use it to bribe the authorities so that you may knowingly consume a portion of other people’s wealth sinfully.” [al-Baqarah: 188]

Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Hakam, in the additions he made to his father’s abridgment, related that Abū Hanīfah said: “Every