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Bequest (wasiyya)

الوصية

Al-Sha'rawi treats the bequest within the law of inheritance. The verse mentions the bequest before the debt, which he explains as emphasis, while in execution the debt is paid first because it has a claimant. He says Islam limited the bequest to a third so that heirs are not harmed, and that a man who writes a false debt to deprive relatives remains answerable before God 1234.

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Family, marriage and kinship

Summary

Al-Sha'rawi treats the bequest within inheritance law. The verse mentions it before the debt; in execution the debt is paid first because it has a claimant. He says Islam limited the bequest to a third so that heirs are not harmed. 1

Order of bequest and debt

He says the bequest is named first in the verse out of care for it, since it has no claimant, while a debt has one. In execution the debt comes first because it is a duty owed, whereas a bequest is a gift. 12

The third and the prohibition of harm

He states that Islam fixed the bequest at a third so that heirs are not harmed, and that the words "without harm" mean the testator must not intend to injure his heirs. 23

A false debt

He describes a man who acknowledges a debt that does not exist in order to deprive relatives. A court may enforce it, he says, but it does not clear the man before God. 34

Not checked here

No academic reading of the third limit or of the order of execution is set out in this part; one is needed from a named source (needs_source).

Opinions on the question

The question: In what order are bequest and debt executed, and what limit prevents harm to heirs?

First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference

The bequest is limited to a third, must not harm heirs, and the debt comes before the bequest in execution

Sha'rawi states these rules in his exegesis, reading the bequest's position first in the verse as care for it, and holding that the debt is executed first because it has a claimant {cite:tafsir-sharawi-khawatir-scan-vol-2 p. 2029}{cite:tafsir-sharawi-khawatir-scan-vol-2 p. 2033}.

Held by: Muhammad Mutawalli al-Sha'rawi

More opinions (1)

Academic viewSecondary opinion

An academic reading of the third limit and of the bequest-debt order has not yet been added

No academic reading is set out in this part; it needs a named source (needs_source).

Connections

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Part of
The science of inheritance shares

People and things also explored

Kalala (collateral heirs)· Gradual dispersal of property (al-tafattut al-insiyabi)· Women's inheritance· Arba'un 43 — give the fixed shares to their people· The science of inheritance shares· Taj Mahal· Abawan (the two parents)· Justice among co-wives

Sources

  1. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p. 2029
  2. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p. 2033
  3. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p. 2034
  4. Sha'rawi's Khawatir around the Holy Quran, volume one (scan copy) , p. 2035
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Bequest (wasiyya)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-wasiyya/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Kalala (collateral heirs)

For al-Sha'rawi, kalala are the collateral heirs of a deceased person who has neither ascendant nor descendant, and the rule concerns siblings. He separates uterine siblings, who take a sixth alone and share a third when more than one, from full or paternal siblings, for whom two sisters take two-thirds, and he holds that the separation answers the claim that the verses contradict each other.