In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Especially Merciful. May Allah bless Muhammad. Allah’s help I seek, and in Him I place my trust.

Book of Bequests

Allah, blessed and exalted be He, has permitted His servants to make bequests and has mentioned them in several verses of His Book. He says:

“After any bequest they have made or debt owed.” [al-Nisā’: 12]

He—exalted be He—also says:

“After any bequest he has made or debt owed.” [al-Nisā’: 11]

And He says:

“Then they will not be able to make a bequest, nor will they return to their families.” [Yā Sīn: 50]

The Prophet ﷺ encouraged this, saying: “It is not right for a Muslim who has anything to bequeath to let two nights pass without having his will written and kept with him.” This is lest death take him unawares and cut his life short, depriving him of the opportunity to make a will. Some narrators likewise transmitted this hadith in the following wording: “No one who has property to bequeath should let two nights pass without having his will written and kept with him.”

Some of the scholars of Sicily said that this means when a person is ill; a healthy person is not negligent if he leaves his will unwritten. The correct view, however, is to understand the hadith according to its apparent, general meaning, encompassing both the sick and the healthy. For a healthy person cannot be sure that death will not take him unawares, leaving him unable to make the bequests he wishes,