Why it is important to write a Will

بِسۡمِ اللهِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِيۡمِ

If you die without making a Will, you are said to have died intestate and your estate will be distributed according to the laws of intestacy of the country where you live. The law of intestacy is like the default Will of the deceased who did not write his own Will. 

Abū Hurayrah () narrated that the Prophet ()   said: “A man may do good deeds for seventy years but if he acts unjustly when he leaves his last Will, the wickedness of his deed will be sealed upon him, and he will enter the Fire. If, (on the other hand), a man acts wickedly for seventy years but is just in his last Will, the goodness of his deed will be sealed upon him, and he will enter the Garden.” (Musnad Ibn Ḥanbal and Ibn Mājah. Book 22, Hadith 2704/ 2808)

It is very important to write a Will because a Will allows you: 

• To control what happens to your estate after your death, 

• To choose your executors,

• To choose guardians for your young children,

• To express wishes about funeral arrangements,

• To make a bequest for a friend, relative or charity, 

• To plan tax reduction strategy, 

• Your estate property will be easier to administer with the presence of a Will, and 

• To perhaps achieve peace of mind. 

• With the new opt-out organ donation law in the U.K. you should declare whether or not you wish to donate your organs after your death or not.Click here for information.

For Muslims living in non-Islāmic countries who wish their estate to be distributed according to Islāmic law, that is to say what they believe to be the commandments of the Almighty, it is necessary to write a valid Will because the law of intestate succession (distribution of the estate of a person who dies without leaving a Will) in non-Islāmic countries is very different from the Islāmic law of succession.  

The Will should comply with the law of the land so that it can be executed after a person’s death without any unnecessary legal problems. You should consult a legal expert (solicitor/ lawyer, Will writer) who is familiar with succession law of the land and Sharīʿa law to ensure your Will is valid and that there are no conflicts of law within the Will.  

In common law jurisdictions, such as England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and nearly all of the States of the U.S, where testamentary freedom is supreme, Muslims can fulfil the commandments of Allāh () regarding inheritance laws by writing a valid Islāmic (Sharīʿa compliant) Will.  The free Islāmic Will available on this website has been examined and approved from a Sharīʿa perspective by Shaikh Waquar Azeem Nadwi and Mufti Amjad Mohammed of The Olive Foundation.

The Will is effectively the last act of man on this Earth and its effects may last for generations to come. It is something which will affect us all at some stage in our lives. Therefore, it is important that we expend some of our time in thinking and planning about this important issue. 

Dr. A. Hussain