Hadith #48

Arabic Text

English Translation

Malik said: 'Whoever dies while owing a vow of freeing a slave, fasting, charity, or a sacrificial animal, and he has bequeathed that it be fulfilled on his behalf from his wealth — then the charity and sacrificial animal come from his one-third bequest, and it takes priority over other bequests of the same type. This is because what is obligatory upon him from vows and the like is not like voluntary acts that are not obligatory. It is placed in his one-third specifically, apart from his principal wealth, because if it were permissible from his principal wealth, the deceased might have delayed such obligatory matters until when death approached and his wealth passed to his heirs, then he would name such things which no creditor had pressed him for — and were that permissible, he would delay these things until near death, naming them when they might consume all of his wealth, and that is not for him.'

Grading