He then allocates its rent and yield to whatever charitable avenues he deems appropriate, after first seeing to the property’s maintenance.
Whoever establishes a ḥabs while in sound health, the donation is taken from the principal of his estate. If he sets it up during his death-illness or by means of a bequest, it is charged to the disposable one-third of his estate.
A ḥabs made in favour of an heir during the donor’s terminal illness is invalid, for it is regarded as a bequest, and no bequest may be left to an heir. The property therefore reverts to the estate and is distributed among all the heirs.
If, while ill, a person endows a ḥabs upon his heirs together with outsiders, the endowment is valid within the limits of his one-third. It is divided between the heirs and the outsiders according to his stipulation, and when the heirs die out it passes to the cause he designated for after their demise.
Should he dedicate it to some heirs and not to others, alongside an outsider, the ḥabs is divided between that heir and the outsider. Whatever falls to the heir is shared with the rest of the heirs in the proportions laid down by the Law. When that heir dies, the entire ḥabs transfers to the outsider. Some hold, however, that only the outsider’s original share devolves to him, while the heir’s share reverts to the purpose to which the ḥabs is destined; this is the settled position in the school.
When the outsider dies, the ḥabs reverts to the cause for which it was endowed.
Any ḥabs a donor declares—whether land, palm-groves, livestock, slaves, garments, or anything else—and then dies while the property is still in his possession, without having delivered it to its stated purpose, is classed as inheritance and is divided among all his heirs.
Such a disposition is not deemed a valid ḥabs unless, during his illness, he says: “Carry this out from my one-third.” In that case it follows the rules of bequests: no heir receives a portion of it unless the other heirs ratify the gift.
If, however, the ḥabs has been assigned to revert to someone other than an heir, all the heirs share in it according to their respective Qurʾānic portions. Whenever one of them dies, his share passes to his own heirs so long as any of the donor’s direct children remain alive. Once the last of those children has died, the ḥabs reverts to the person or cause named as its final destination.