i need advice to handle a situation. the problem is that my sister married a christian who converted to Muslim to marry her.my sister died of stomach cancer a little while ago.her marriage lasted around 10 years. i used to live with her in UAE. Before she died she made a will (me and her husband as a witness) to distribute her jewelry among her husband and her family.
The following problems to be considered
before she died he converted back to christian which makes their marriage annulled
he calls me and says that before she died she told him that all the gold belongs to him
my mother says that it does not belong to him as he did not contribute a single penny any of the marriage jewelry (shaadi and walima wedding jewelry sets where bought by my mother)
my brother in law borrowed 40,000 dirhams from me (which after this i dont think i will be getting back)
i asked the scholar and he says that since he is was no a muslim and lied to her for 10 years it does not belong to him
at the moment all of her jewelry is with me. and since i used to live with them but she has died i don’t know what to do .
how do i tell him (should i) that i have to give it to my mother?
i mean its their house and even it i do have the jewelry how should i do what my sister wanted?
rite now i am in Pakistan but i haven’t told my mom or him anything cuz if i tell my mom she will take it all. i want to do what is rite
I would (if I was in this situation) Divide the asset into two equal parts, redact 40K Dirhams worth from one, and give the smaller portion to him. (i am no scholar)
Anyway….it doesn’t really matter. I am also far from being a scholar but I agree with what crab man said. You didn’t write anything about him being a bad husband so it sounds like he kept your sister very happy during the 10 years of their marriage. There is no doubt that your sister wanted him to have half of the jewelry b/c she made a will about it while alive. Whether or not he contributed any money towards the wedding jewelry does not matter b/c your sister obviously did not care about it….she knew who paid for her wedding/walima jewelry and still gave her husband half of it.
If I were in your shoes….I would stay focused on what your sister would have wanted and what would’ve made her happy. What Crabman says seems fair and on par with your sister’s wishes. Divide the jewelry in half like your sister wanted…….take out the amount he borrowed from you….and give him the rest.
Like the above, divide the jewellery deduct the 40k he owes you and just give him his share. As your sister wanted. As you can see nothing goes with us its not worth fighting over, he must have kept her happy for her to make the choice of giving him some jewels.
sorry to hear about your loss...may Allah grant her jannat...aameen
i think if she leaves a WILL behind, and did NOT alter it before her death, it stands as her true will and the people who'll look after her estate will have to respect that.
the above is a legal document, both in the sight of the law of the land as well as her religion. the executioner of her will the responsibility to follow up on her will.
as far as her husband reverting to Christianity is irrelevant because she did NOT know about that. had she known about it, she would have changed her will.
my advice to you would be to respect her will.
the gold was given to your sister as a wedding gift and gifts can NOT be taken back unless she had willed for it.
the debt of 40K Dirham is NOT an issue as far as fulfilling her wasii'at is concerned. you may go to court to get that.
How about do what your sister asked you to. Divide it in equal parts. One for him and and other for her family.
Secondly, what he borrowed from you is b/w you and him and you should not be deducting that money from his part unless your gave it to him on your sister's guarantee.
Reverting back to Christianity does mean the guy gives up his right to inherit but in a lot of countries Islamic law and law of the land is different even in Muslim countires. If the will is legally binding with a lawyer then you should execute it. You should ask about your money though and if an exchange is acceptable to him.
the will is not written .she just said what she wished for and i will do it some how
a verbal will, if there are witnesses to it, are as legal and binding as a written one. Islamically, a verbal will is also valid if there are any witnesses.
the will is not written .she just said what she wished for and i will do it some how
This is all it boils down to. Forget what the scholar/your mother said or what the legal laws are.......focus on your sister. YOU know what she wanted....you know what her intentions were and what was in her heart. There is no doubt in your mind about what would have made your sister happy. Your sister trusted you to carry out her wishes. Now its a matter of whether or not you will carry it out and whether you can live with your decision.
@aquarius771
If you really want to know the Islamic position then as far as I remember, a non-muslim cannot inherit from a muslim, even if it is offspring.So Islamically he cannot get anything from your sister. There are multiple fatwas on net and you can read AND also contact an aalim.
Secondly, if he converted back without telling your sister while she was alive, this constitutes fraud. You cannot judge if your sister would still consider him for inheritance if she knew.
Thirdly, you should move out, you are not allowed to stay islamically with a non-muslim na mehram in same house.
Fourthly, to best of my knowledge in UAE, inheritance rules are islamic and he won't get anything if he goes to court.
Fifthly, regardless of inheritance what he owes you, he needs to give back, though Islamically you can waive it off, if you wish.
How about do what your sister asked you to. Divide it in equal parts. One for him and and other for her family.
Secondly, what he borrowed from you is b/w you and him and you should not be deducting that money from his part unless your gave it to him on your sister's guarantee.
Makes sense.....but I think in family matters this guarantee is always assumed, otherwise he wouldn't have given the loan to a random person if he wasn't his brother in law.
the will is not written .she just said what she wished for and i will do it some how
That is a problem. Even if this will is valid islamically, there are only two witnesses, you and your bro-in-law, and both differ in their recollection. Added to that, his status as a muslim is questionable, at the time this verbal will was made, which means he might not qualify to be a witness. Things are stacked against him and you are not on solid ground yourself. How certain are you that that is what your sister wanted? Any chance she changed her mind and made a new 'verbal' will? If I were you, I would negotiate and settle with him. Show him how all this is against him and how things could get worse for him if he goes to court.
The 40K he owes you cannot be part of this negotiation, because that is between you and him and has nothing to do with your sister's jewellery. Who owns the house? Do you pay any rent?
Don't listen to your mother and get all worked up on this. She is clearly in the wrong. May Allah give you all sabr and hikmah to deal with this all.
personally i think i he does deserve some share in the jewelry. but both my mom and him are not acting like adults and want the entire gold and asking them to understand the situation is very difficult since after her death they have not spoken and dont like each other. he will think that i stole from him. even though it is not my intent
