عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ عُمَرَ - رضي اللَّه عنهمَا - أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ قَالَ: «مَا حَقُّ امْرِئٍ مُسْلِمٍ لَهُ شَيْءٌ يُوصِي فِيهِ، يَبِيتُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ إِلَّا وَوَصِيَّتُهُ مَكْتُوبَةٌ عِنْدَهُ»
90 - The will
‘Abdullāh ibn ‘Umar narrated that God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said:
It is not right for a Muslim person who has something he wishes to give as a bequest to stay two nights without having his will already written.
Related by al-Bukhari, 2738; Muslim, 1627.
Related Quranic Verses
It is prescribed for you, when death approaches any of you and he is leaving behind some property, to make bequests in favour of his parents and other near of kin in fairness. This is a duty incumbent on the God-fearing.
(2: 180)
[Shares of inheritance shall apply] after any bequest he may have made, or any outstanding debt [has been deducted from the total estate].
(4: 11)
Believers, let there be witnesses to what you do when death approaches you and you are about to make bequests: two people of probity from among your own people, or two others from outside, if the pangs of death come to you when you are travelling through the land. Detain them both after prayer, and if you have any doubt in mind, let them swear by God, ‘We shall not sell this [our word] for any price, even though it were for a near kinsman; and neither shall we conceal anything of what we have witnessed before God; for then we should be among the sinful’.
(5: 106)
