Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:180
Prescribed for you when death approaches [any] one of you if he leaves wealth [is that he should make] a bequest for the parents and near relatives according to what is acceptable - a duty upon the righteous.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ لِلْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالأَقْرَبِينَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ حَقًّا عَلَى الْمُتَّقِينَ (180)
(It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good [property], to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives, in a fitting manner; a duty upon the God-fearing.) (2:180)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted be His mention — "It is prescribed for you" He means: it is imposed upon you as a duty, O believers, the bequest — when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good — and "the good" means: property — in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives who do not inherit from him; "in a fitting manner (bil-maʿrūf)": that is, in the manner that Allah has permitted and made lawful regarding the bequest, namely that which does not exceed the third part, and in which the testator does not deliberately wrong his heirs; "a duty upon the God-fearing (ḥaqqan ʿalā al-muttaqīn)" — by this He means: this is imposed upon you as a duty and made obligatory, and He has made it a firmly established duty for whoever fears Allah and obeys Him, that he act upon it.
* * *
Now if someone says: Is it then an obligation upon the man who possesses property to make a bequest in favor of his parents and his nearest relatives who do not inherit from him?
Then it is answered: Yes.
If he then says: And if he is negligent in this and makes no bequest for them, is he then one who neglects a duty, such that by that neglect he falls into sin?
Then it is answered: Yes.
If he then says: And what is the proof of that?
Then it is answered: The saying of Allah — exalted be His mention —: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives." Thus He has made known to us that He has prescribed it for us and imposed it as a duty, just as He says: كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ (Fasting is prescribed for you) (Surah Al-Baqarah: 183). And there is no disagreement among anyone that whoever neglects fasting while he is able to do it has, by that neglect, neglected a duty of Allah upon him. Likewise, by neglecting the bequest in favor of his parents and nearest relatives while he possesses something concerning which he can make a bequest for them, he is one who neglects a duty of Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He.
If he then says: But you surely know that a group of the scholars have said: the bequest in favor of the parents and nearest relatives is abrogated (mansūkh) by the verse concerning inheritance (mīrāth)?
Then he is answered: Another group has contradicted them and said: it is a firmly established (muḥkam) verse, not abrogated. And when there is disagreement among the scholars concerning its abrogation, then it is not permissible for us to rule that it is abrogated, except on the basis of a proof to which one must submit, since it is not impossible that the ruling of this verse and the ruling of the verse concerning the shares of inheritance can validly coexist in one and the same situation, without the ruling of the one refuting the ruling of the other. For the abrogating (nāsikh) and the abrogated (mansūkh) are precisely those two meanings whose rulings cannot validly coexist in one and the same situation, because the one annuls the other.
And what we have said concerning this, a group of the early and later [scholars] have also said.
* Mention of who said that:
2628 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, that he used to say: Whoever dies without making a bequest for his nearest relatives has concluded his life's work with disobedience.
2629 — Salm ibn Junāda related to me, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Muslim, on the authority of Masrūq: that he was present with a man who was making a bequest concerning matters that were not fitting, whereupon Masrūq said to him: Verily, Allah has distributed among you and made the distribution good; and whoever turns away with his own opinion from the opinion of Allah, him He leaves to stray. Make a bequest for your nearest relative who does not inherit from you, and then leave the property as Allah has distributed it.
2630 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Abū Tumayla Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: ʿUbayd related to us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, saying: A bequest in favor of an heir is not valid, and one makes a bequest only in favor of a nearest relative. If he makes a bequest in favor of someone who is not a nearest relative, then he has acted in disobedience; unless there is no nearest relative, in which case he makes a bequest in favor of the poor among the Muslims.
2631 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Mughīra, saying: Astonishing of Abū al-ʿĀliya — a woman of the Banū Riyāḥ had freed him, and yet he made a bequest with his property in favor of the Banū Hāshim!
2632 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of a man, on the authority of al-Shaʿbī, saying: He had no [patrons (mawālī)], and no priority for anyone.
2633 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Maʿmar said concerning the bequest: Whoever has named [a beneficiary], for him we fix it where he named it — and whoever says: "where Allah has commanded," for him we fix it among his nearest relatives.
2634 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣanʿānī related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr related to us, saying: I said to Abū Mijlaz: Is the bequest obligatory for every Muslim? He said: For whoever leaves behind good.
2635 — Sawwār ibn ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Malik ibn al-Ṣabbāḥ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr related to us, saying: I said to Lāḥiq ibn Ḥumayd: Is the bequest a duty for every Muslim? He said: It is a duty for whoever leaves behind good.
* * *
The scholars have differed concerning the ruling of this verse.
Some of them said: Allah has abrogated nothing of its ruling. It is merely a verse whose outward form is the outward form of generality concerning every father, mother, and nearest relative, while with respect to the ruling only a portion of them is intended and not all — namely those among them who do not inherit from the deceased, to the exclusion of whoever does inherit. And that is the saying of the one whose saying I have mentioned, as well as the saying of another group along with them.
Mention of the saying of who among them has not [yet] been mentioned in this regard:
2636 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hishām related to us, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Jābir ibn Zayd: concerning a man who makes a bequest in favor of someone who is not a nearest relative, while he has needy nearest relatives, he said: Two-thirds of the third part is returned to them, and one-third of the third part goes to the one in whose favor he made the bequest.
2637 — Ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʿādh related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of al-Ḥasan and Jābir ibn Zayd and ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Yaʿlā, that they said — concerning the man who makes a bequest in favor of someone who is not a nearest relative, while he has nearest relatives who do not inherit from him: They used to assign two-thirds of the third part to the nearest relatives, and one-third of the third part to the one in whose favor he had made the bequest.
2638 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ḥumayd informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, that he used to say: When the man makes a bequest with his third part in favor of someone who is not a nearest relative, then one-third of the third part is due to them, and two-thirds of the third part is due to his nearest relatives.
2639 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, saying: Whoever makes a bequest in favor of people and names them by name, while he leaves his nearest relatives in need, [from his beneficiaries] the [surplus] is taken away and returned to his nearest relatives.
* * *
Others said: It is rather a verse by which the ruling was obligatory and according to which it was acted upon for a time. Then Allah, by the verse concerning the shares of inheritance, abrogated from it the bequest in favor of the parents of the testator and his nearest relatives who do inherit from him, and He maintained the obligation of the bequest for whoever among them did not inherit from him.
* Mention of who said that:
2640 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives." — Thus the bequest was assigned to the parents and the nearest relatives; then that was abrogated, and a fixed share was assigned for them [the parents], so that the bequest [applied only] to the nearest relatives who do not inherit, and a known share was fixed for the parents; and a bequest in favor of an heir is not valid.
2641 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: The parents were abrogated from it, and the nearest relatives who do not inherit remained [maintained therein].
2642 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: Whoever inherits is abrogated, and the nearest relatives who do not inherit are not abrogated.
2643 — Yaḥyā ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Ṭāwūs, on the authority of his father, saying: The bequest, before [the law of] inheritance, applied in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives. When [the law of] inheritance was revealed, inheritance abrogated [the bequest] for whoever inherits, and it remained for whoever does not inherit. So whoever makes a bequest in favor of an [inheriting] nearest relative — his bequest is not valid.
2644 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl al-Makkī, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: It abrogated the parents and confirmed the nearest relatives who are excluded and thus do not inherit.
2645 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan concerning this verse: "the bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: As for the parents, it is abrogated, and the bequest [remains] in favor of the nearest relatives, even if they are wealthy.
2646 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives" — no one inherited together with the parents except them, save for a bequest if that was in favor of the nearest relatives. Then Allah revealed after this: وَلأَبَوَيْهِ لِكُلِّ وَاحِدٍ مِنْهُمَا السُّدُسُ مِمَّا تَرَكَ إِنْ كَانَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ فَإِنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ وَلَدٌ وَوَرِثَهُ أَبَوَاهُ فَلأُمِّهِ الثُّلُثُ (And for his parents, for each one of them, a sixth of what he leaves, if he has a child; and if he has no child and his parents inherit from him, then his mother is due the third) (Surah An-Nisāʾ: 11). Thus Allah — glorified be He — made clear the share of inheritance of the parents, and confirmed the bequest for the nearest relatives within the third part of the property of the deceased.
2647 — ʿAlī ibn Dāwūd related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives" — thus He abrogated from the bequest the parents, and confirmed the bequest for the nearest relatives who do not inherit.
2648 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning His saying: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives in a fitting manner," he said: This was before the revelation of "Surah An-Nisāʾ." When the verse concerning inheritance was revealed, it abrogated the matter of the parents, He added them to the heirs, and the bequest was [maintained] in favor of the nearest relatives who do not inherit.
2649 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Salama related to us, saying: ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Maymūna informed us, saying: I asked Muslim ibn Yasār and al-ʿAlāʾ ibn Ziyād about the saying of Allah — blessed and exalted is He —: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives." They both said: [It applies to] the nearest relatives.
2650 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Iyās ibn Muʿāwiya, saying: [It applies to] the nearest relatives.
* * *
Others said: Allah indeed abrogated all of that and made the shares of inheritance and the laws of inheritance obligatory, so that for no one is a bequest obligatory in favor of anyone, neither near relative nor distant.
* Mention of who said that:
2651 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives" — the verse — he said: Allah abrogated all of that and made the shares of inheritance obligatory.
2652 — Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Yūnus, on the authority of Ibn Sīrīn, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: that he stood up here and addressed the people, and recited to them "Surah Al-Baqarah" in order to make clear to them [the meaning] from it. When he came to this verse: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: This is abrogated.
2653 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives" — the shares of inheritance that apply to the parents and the nearest relatives have abrogated the bequest.
2654 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Jahḍam, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Badr, saying: I heard Ibn ʿUmar say concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: The verse concerning inheritance has abrogated it. Ibn Bashshār said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said: I asked Jahḍam about it, but he did not remember it [well].
2655 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima and al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, who both said: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives" — thus was the bequest, until the verse concerning inheritance abrogated it.
2656 — Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām related to me, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard my father say: Qatāda claimed, on the authority of Shurayḥ, concerning this verse: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: The man used to make a bequest over all his property, until the verse concerning inheritance was revealed.
2657 — Aḥmad ibn al-Miqdām related to us, saying: al-Muʿtamir related to us, saying: I heard my father say: Qatāda claimed: that the two verses concerning the shares of inheritance in "Surah An-Nisāʾ" abrogated the verse in "Surah Al-Baqarah" concerning the bequest.
2658 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying of Allah: "when he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives," he said: Inheritance applied to the child, and the bequest applied to the parents and the nearest relatives, and it [the verse] is abrogated.
2659 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, saying: Inheritance applied to the child, and the bequest applied to the parents and the nearest relatives, and it is abrogated — a verse in "Surah An-Nisāʾ" abrogated it: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ (Allah charges you concerning your children) (Surah An-Nisāʾ: 11).
2660 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good, to make a bequest in favor of the parents and the nearest relatives." — As for the parents and the nearest relatives: on the day this verse was revealed, the people had no fixed share of inheritance; the man would simply make a bequest in favor of his parent and his family, and it was divided among them, until "An-Nisāʾ" abrogated it, in which He said: يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلادِكُمْ (Allah charges you concerning your children).
2661 — Yaʿqūb related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, on the authority of Nāfiʿ: that Ibn ʿUmar made no bequest and said: As for my [movable] property, Allah knows best what I used to do with it during [my] life; and as for my real estate (ribāʿ), I do not want anyone to become a co-sharer with my children in it.
2662 — Muḥammad ibn Khalaf al-ʿAsqalānī related to me, saying: Muḥammad ibn Yūsuf related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Nusayr ibn Dhuʿlūq, saying: ʿUrwa — namely Ibn Thābit — said to al-Rabīʿ ibn Khuthaym: Make a bequest for me with your copy of the Qurʾān (muṣḥaf). He said: Then he looked at his father and said: وَأُولُو الأَرْحَامِ بَعْضُهُمْ أَوْلَى بِبَعْضٍ فِي كِتَابِ اللَّهِ (And the blood relatives are nearer to one another, according to the Book of Allah) (Surah Al-Anfāl: 75).
2663 — ʿAlī ibn Sahl related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: We mentioned to him that Zayd and Ṭalḥa were strict in the matter of the bequest, whereupon he said: It was not for them to do that. The Prophet ﷺ died without making a bequest, while Abū Bakr did make a bequest. Whichever of those two you do, it is good.
2664 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAbd Allāh, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, saying: In his presence Ṭalḥa and Zayd were mentioned, and he mentioned something similar.
* * *
As for "the good (al-khayr)," which — when one leaves it behind — obligates him to make the bequest concerning it in favor of his parents and nearest relatives who do not inherit: that is property, as in:
2665 — al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, on the authority of Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good," that is: property.
2666 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying of Allah: "when he leaves behind good," [namely] property.
2667 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: "when he leaves behind good," he used to say: "the good (al-khayr)" means, throughout the entire Qurʾān: property — لِحُبِّ الْخَيْرِ لَشَدِيدٌ (in his love of good he is intense) (Surah Al-ʿĀdiyāt: 8), "the good": property — إِنِّي أَحْبَبْتُ حُبَّ الْخَيْرِ عَنْ ذِكْرِ رَبِّي (verily, I have preferred the love of good over the remembrance of my Lord) (Surah Ṣād: 32), [namely] property — فَكَاتِبُوهُمْ إِنْ عَلِمْتُمْ فِيهِمْ خَيْرًا (then make a manumission-contract (mukātaba) with them, if you know in them good) (Surah An-Nūr: 33), [namely] property — and إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ (when he leaves behind good, the bequest), [namely] property.
2668 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "when he leaves behind good, the bequest," that is: property.
2669 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "when he leaves behind good, the bequest" — as for "good": that is property.
2670 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "when he leaves behind good," he said: when he leaves behind property.
2671 — al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good," he said: "the good" is property.
2672 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good, the bequest," he said: [Namely] property. Do you not see that He says that Shuʿayb said to his people: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ (verily, I see you in prosperity) (Surah Hūd: 84)? — by this He means: wealth.
2673 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr al-Yāfiʿī informed us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Rabāḥ, [who] recited: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good." ʿAṭāʾ said: "The good" is, according to what is apparent: property.
* * *
Then they differed concerning the amount of property which — when a man leaves it behind — brings him among those to whom the ruling of this verse applies.
Some of them said: That is a thousand dirhams.
* Mention of who said that:
2674 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Hammām ibn Yaḥyā related to us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning this verse: "when he leaves behind good, the bequest," he said: "the good" is a thousand [dirhams] and above.
2675 — al-Muthannā related to me, saying: al-Ḥajjāj related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, saying: Hishām ibn ʿUrwa informed us, on the authority of ʿUrwa: that ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib came to a cousin of his to visit him [in his illness], and he said: Verily, I wish to make a bequest. Then ʿAlī said: Do not make a bequest, for you leave behind no [considerable] good, such that you [need] make a bequest. He [the narrator] said: And he left behind between seven hundred and nine hundred [dirhams].
2676 — Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Ḥizāmī and Ibn Abī al-Zinād related to me, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib: that he came to a sick man and mentioned the bequest to him, whereupon he said: Do not make a bequest; Allah has indeed said: "when he leaves behind good," and you leave behind no [considerable] good. Ibn Abī al-Zinād added to that: So leave your property to your children.
2677 — Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr ibn Ṣafiyya, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUyayna — or: ʿUtba, the doubt is from me —: that a man wished to make a bequest while he had many children and left behind four hundred dinars, whereupon ʿĀʾisha said: I see no surplus in that.
2678 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Hishām ibn ʿUrwa, on the authority of his father, saying: ʿAlī came to a freedman of theirs who was dying, and who possessed seven hundred dirhams, or six hundred dirhams. He said: Shall I not make a bequest? He said: No! Allah has indeed said: "when he leaves behind good," and you possess no considerable property.
* * *
Some of them said: That is what lies between five hundred dirhams and a thousand.
* Mention of who said that:
2679 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Abān ibn Ibrāhīm al-Nakhaʿī concerning His saying: "when he leaves behind good," he said: a thousand dirhams down to five hundred.
* * *
Some of them said: The bequest is obligatory with little property and with much.
* Mention of who said that:
2680 — al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, saying: Allah has made the bequest a duty, with little of it or much.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct view of these statements in the interpretation of His word: "It is prescribed for you, when death approaches one of you and he leaves behind good, to make a bequest" is what al-Zuhrī said. For both little property and much property fall under the designation "good (khayr)," and Allah did not specify it by a limit, nor did He except anything from it, such that it would be permissible to divert the outward [general] meaning toward a hidden [restricted] meaning. So everyone whose death approaches while he has property, little or much, is obligated to make a bequest from it in favor of whoever among his fathers, mothers, and nearest relatives does not inherit from him, in a fitting manner, as Allah — exalted be His mention — has said and commanded.
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Footnotes:
(72) In the printed edition it reads "Sālim ibn Junāda." That is an error. It has already occurred several times; see his biography under number 48.
(73) In the printed edition it reads "He had no condition (ḥāl) and no priority." That is, in my opinion, without doubt an error. For this report is a commentary on the preceding report, in which Mughīra expressed astonishment at the conduct of Abū al-ʿĀliya: a woman of the Banū Riyāḥ had freed him, and yet he made a bequest with his property in favor of the Banū Hāshim! Thereupon al-Shaʿbī refuted the astonishment of Mughīra and said: Abū al-ʿĀliya has no patrons (mawālī), and no one has priority [over his property]. — The story of this is that a woman bought Abū al-ʿĀliya, then brought him to the mosque, took his hand, and said: "O Allah, preserve him with You as a treasure. Bear witness, O people of the mosque, that he is a sāʾiba, [freed] for the sake of Allah; no one has any right over him, except the right of what is fitting." Abū al-ʿĀliya said: The sāʾiba places himself where he wishes. (Ibn Saʿd 7/1/81). The sāʾiba is the slave who is freed on the condition that there be no clientage bond (walāʾ) over him. The jurists differed concerning the inheritance of the sāʾiba if he leaves behind an estate: does his liberator inherit from him, or is it not permitted to him to take anything of his property? It is said: when Abū al-ʿĀliya died, his [former] master[mistress] came with his estate, but said: he is a sāʾiba! and refused to take it. In the report of ʿUmar [it states]: "The sāʾiba and the alms are for their [own] day." Abū ʿUbayda said: that is, for the Day of Resurrection, and the day on which he freed his sāʾiba and gave alms. He means: he does not thereafter return in this worldly life to enjoy anything of it. See the biography of Sālim, the freedman of Abū Ḥudhayfa (Ibn Saʿd 3/1/60); for he was a sāʾiba and was killed on the day of al-Yamāma in the time of Abū Bakr. Abū Bakr sent his property to his [former] mistress, but she refused to accept it, whereupon ʿUmar placed it in the treasury (bayt al-māl). This, then, is what al-Shaʿbī wished to say: that Abū al-ʿĀliya is a sāʾiba, that he therefore has no patrons, that he places his property where he wishes, and that none of the patrons objects to that, because that is the ruling concerning the sāʾiba. This is what I have found concerning the correction of this sentence; I have not encountered it anywhere else. I ask Allah that I may have hit upon the correct in it and avoided the misstep.
(74) In the printed edition it reads "ʿImrān ibn Jarīr," that is an error; the correct is what I have established. It is ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr al-Sadūsī, Abū ʿUbayda al-Baṣrī; he performed the funeral [prayer] behind Anas. He related from Abū Mijlaz, Abū Qilāba, and others, and from him [it was related]... And Abū Mijlaz is Lāḥiq ibn Ḥumayd, mentioned in the following isnād.
(75) In the printed edition it reads "ʿImrān ibn Jarīr," that is an error; the correct is what I have established. It is ʿImrān ibn Ḥudayr al-Sadūsī, Abū ʿUbayda al-Baṣrī; he performed the funeral [prayer] behind Anas. He related from Abū Mijlaz, Abū Qilāba, and others, and from him [it was related]... And Abū Mijlaz is Lāḥiq ibn Ḥumayd, mentioned in the following isnād.
(76) Report 2643 — Yaḥyā ibn Naṣr, the teacher of al-Ṭabarī: I do not know who he is. I have found among the narrators no one so named, except an early man whom al-Ṭabarī did not meet, namely "Yaḥyā ibn Naṣr ibn Ḥājib al-Qurashī," who died in the year 215, before the birth of Abū Jaʿfar. He has a biography in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/193, in the Taʾrīkh Baghdād 14:159-160, and in the Lisān al-Mīzān 6:278-279. In the Taʾrīkh Baghdād 14:225-226 stands the biography of "Yaḥyā ibn Abī Naṣr, Abū Saʿd al-Harawī," whose father's name is Manṣūr ibn al-Ḥasan. This one died in the year 287. But it is unlikely that he heard from "Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān," who died in the year 208. In the Tahdhīb 11:292-293 stands a third biography: "Yaḥyā ibn al-Naḍr ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Aṣbahānī al-Daqqāq," who related from Abū Dāwūd al-Ṭayālisī and from whom Abū Bakr ibn Abī Dāwūd al-Sijistānī related. He also has a biography in the Taʾrīkh Iṣbahān 2:257-258. This one, then, is from this era, and it is highly likely that he is the one from whom al-Ṭabarī related here. As for his teacher "Yaḥyā ibn Ḥassān": that is al-Tinnīsī al-Bakrī, and he is trustworthy (thiqa). He has a biography in the Tahdhīb, in the [Taʾrīkh] al-Kabīr 4/2/269, in the [Taʾrīkh] al-Ṣaghīr: 229, and in Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/135.
(77) In the printed edition it reads "ibn Khuthaym"; I have established what stands in the Tahdhīb; see his biography.
(78) In the printed edition it reads "Abū Jaʿfar," and the correct is "Abū Ḥudhayfa"; it is an isnād that recurs in the tafsīr, the nearest [instance] before this under number 2659.
(79) The narration 2668 — in the printed edition it reads "Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us," in which "Yazīd related to us" has dropped out; it is an isnād that recurs in the tafsīr, the nearest [instance] before this under number 2640.
(80) In the Khulāṣa it is established "with a kasra on the undotted [ḥāʾ]," and in the Tahdhīb and the Mīzān as "al-Judhāmī" with a jīm with ḍamma, then a dotted dhāl.
