Why One-Third? The Will That Changed Everything
The Story of Sad ibn Malik: Will, Testament, and Islamic Inheritance Laws
Summary
This lecture discusses a narration about Sad ibn Malik from the chapter on intentions and sincerity. The speaker explains how Sad became ill during the Prophet's final Hajj in the ninth year of Hijra and sought guidance about making a will and testament. The Prophet Muhammad instructed that a will can only apply to one-third of a person's wealth, regardless of their circumstances. The speaker uses this incident to illustrate how Islamic rulings on inheritance portions remain constant across all times and situations, and he critiques modern attempts to reinterpret Quranic inheritance laws. The lecture concludes with the Prophet's encouraging words to Sad about his future contributions to Islam and his leadership of Muslims in battles.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Continuing.
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In the narration of Malik the prophet sallallah.ai's maternal uncle from his mother's side in the chapter of intentions and sincerity. Now we reached in this narration yesterday to a point where tells us that he fell ill during and this was in the ninth year after hij during the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam's final and only so first and only Hajj saiam now sad made hijra from Mecca to Medina. And it was not permissible for anyone after they had made hijra from Mecca to Medina to go back to Mecca, even after it became a Muslim city, even after it was even after it became controlled by the Muslims. Why is that? because it was something that was left off for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam prohibited his companions from going back on a commitment that they had already made. And so S fell very ill and he thought that he was going to die. He thought that he was on his deathbed at this moment in time. He had a lot of money. He had a lot of wealth. He was a very wealthy man. And he only had one daughter. And so he asked the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam about meaning a will and testament. Now a will and testament in Islam applies to what? Applies to no more of a person's wealth than onethird. No matter how wealthy they are, whether they have a hundred billion dollars or a hundred dollars, it does not apply to more than onethird of their property, their assets, their wealth at the time of their death. And so we learn from this that was asking the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam. In my situation, I only have one daughter. Should I not give twothirds of it to the poor, the Muslims, the masid, the military, whatever it is, right? Not necessarily just to poor people. Could be to for the for all of the Muslims to share in it. And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam said, "No." He said, "How about half?" He said, "No." He said, "How about a third?" And the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam responded, "A third is acceptable, but that's still a lot." Meaning it's un it's not preferable. It is acceptable, but not preferable. And so before we continue with the remainder of the narration, I want you to take this narration into to heart with regards to the prophet Muhammad sallall.aii alaihi wasallam's understanding of the commands of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and are those commands specific to his time are they specific to his circumstances or are those commands commands by Allah for every place and time why do I say this so sad had one daughter she is his heir and his only heir. She is going to inherit twothirds of all of Sad Malik's wealth. That is a lot of wealth for anyone. But during the time of the prophet and the companions, that is a huge amount of wealth, especially for a female, especially for a woman. Women are not men and the potential there for business. The potential for is greater and more likely with a son than it is with a daughter in the time in this kind of situation. Not not just in his time and any time. And also because of the way that the rulings of Islam are, if a woman is married, then it it it has happened to where this wealth now becomes open season for her husband or anyone else to take advantage of. It's more likely to be squandered, less likely to be taken advantage of. in the way that a businessman Sadi bin Malik would have understood. And so the principles and the portions of inheritance are already set out by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Correct? In Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala already divided all of that up and he said that a male has two portions that a female has. A male has the same allotted to him as two females. Now notice Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala didn't say a female has half of what a male gets. It's the same thing, right? A male gets two portions of what a female gets. A female gets half of what a male gets. Isn't that the same thing? Right? Six of one and half dozen of another. However, words matter and the way that words are spoken matter. The point here is that Sad is essentially asking the prophet sallall.aii wasallam at this point after these have been revealed and after these portions have been set that these portions are set. However, do these portions apply to can they only apply to onethird of my assets? Can they apply to one half of my assets? Can they apply to onethird of my assets? And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam has stated even to Sad even to Sad who only has one heir that's going to get all this money and it's a female one-third. That's it. And the portions of inheritance remain the same. Compare that now to some modern philosophies that are cropping up with some Muslims and in some circles where they say, "Well, you know what? Maybe we should re-examine the portions and the distribution of inheritance." You know, times have changed since the Quran was revealed. And did Allah really intend for these these portions to be the same no matter what? I mean, women aren't the same as men. They aren't the same as they were back then. And so, is this something specific to time and place or is this general? Here in this situation, which is considered an extreme situation, the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam maintained the portions and rules of inheritance they applied to sad just they applied to everyone else and so this idea that we need to modernize the Quran and play around with what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent down to humanity and you know often times this isn't out of necessity it's not out of a a serious misunder understanding. Usually this is just so that we can appease people who are not of us and appease a people who do not accept what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has sent down. And so then said to the prophet Sam, meaning.
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Was.
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For.
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The.
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What has dad for.
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Ayat. for.
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Ache.
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And so the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam tells Sad he says to him, "Oh messenger of Allah, am I going to be left behind? My companions get their reward for their full hij and here I will pass away in Mecca having my reward depleted for hijra." And so the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam made two statements to him. The first he said if you were to be left behind and if your hijra were to be for the sake of argument worst case scenario were to be depleted by this illness and your death here in Mecca. Then keep in mind that in spite of that you will not do any deed, any good deed in which you seek the pleasure of Allah in doing except that you will be raised in stature and levels with Allah. Meaning not all hope is lost because one deed is incomplete. You continue to push on. You continue to strive on until your last breath leaves your chest, until the last beat of your heart, until the angel of death extracts your soul. Then he says another statement to him. He said, "And perhaps perhaps you will be you will live on beyond this illness that you're currently in to the point where you will where a multitude of people will be benefited by your presence whilst others harmed by your presence." speaking about the Muslims and their enemies, that he would lead the Muslims into combat against their oppressors and that he would be in a position of power to be able to benefit the Muslims immensely by his presence. This is considered one of the prophe prophecies of our messenger Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam which will continue to speak about tomorrow. Alhamdulillah.