Chapter on ʿUmrā and Similar Grants

According to Mālik and his colleagues, ʿumrā and sukna are the same, and the terms iʿmār and iskān carry exactly the same legal force. By the wording ʿumrā, in their view, only the usufruct is transferred, never the underlying ownership—just as with sukna. The property therefore stays in the estate of the grantor and reverts to him when the beneficiary dies. It makes no difference whether he says, “I grant it to you and to your descendants as ʿumrā,” or simply, “I grant it to you as ʿumrā”; once the life-tenant and his descendants have passed away, the property returns to its original owner.