{"id":94,"date":"2020-01-11T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-11T00:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.147\/shariawiz\/?p=94"},"modified":"2025-11-20T22:03:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T22:03:09","slug":"i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/2020\/01\/11\/i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will\/","title":{"rendered":"I am an American Muslim. Does the Shar\u012b\u2018a require me to have a will? | Islamic Estate Planning Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Shariawiz: Why Do I Need An Islamic Will?\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZyzVXkddFsg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many Muslim scholars living in the United States suggest that American Muslims are <em>obligated<\/em> to have an Islamic will, because without one, the estate will be divided according to non-Islamic laws. If you leave a surviving spouse and you did not leave a will, your parents, for example, would not inherit, under many state intestacy laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Shar\u012b\u2018a, a will that leaves a bequest is either obligatory, recommended, disliked, or prohibited, depending on the circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong><em>obligatory<\/em><\/strong> bequest is one you <em>must make<\/em>. An example of this is when you owe someone a debt, but no one knows about this debt except you and the creditor. In this case, you must include the debt in your will. Another example is if you are wealthy and have poor relatives that are not eligible Shar\u012b\u2018a heirs; you are obligated to leave them something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong><em>recommended<\/em><\/strong> bequest is one you should <em>strongly consider<\/em>. For example, if your Islamic heirs and relatives are wealthy and not in need, leaving part of your estate for charity is recommended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong><em>disliked<\/em><\/strong> bequest is <em>not recommended<\/em>. For example, if your estate is not large, your Islamic heirs and relatives are poor, and you leave part of your small estate to non-Islamic heirs, the scholars concluded such a bequest is disliked, because it will create hardship for your family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <strong><em>prohibited<\/em><\/strong> bequest is <em>not allowed<\/em> under Shar\u012b\u2018a. For example, it is prohibited to leave more than 1\/3 of your estate to non-Islamic heirs or to give an Islamic heir more than his or her share as stated in the Qur\u2019an. This is based on the famous Hadith of the Prophet that says \u201cthere shall be no bequest to an Islamic heir<em>.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike the Sunni opinion, the Ja\u2018fari (Shia) school permits a bequest to an Islamic heir as long as it does not exceed 1\/3 of the estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To summarize, if you want your estate to be distributed according to the Shar\u012b\u2018a, you <em>must<\/em> have an Islamic will. Use our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shariawiz.com\/last-will-and-testament\">ISLAMIC WILL<\/a> software to prepare your own customized Islamic estate plan that is legally valid for your state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn whether the Shar\u012b\u2018a requires you to have a will for Muslim Americans.  Islamic estate planning explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"banner_title":"Is Islamic Will Required?","banner_subtitle":"Does the Shari\u2019a require I have a will?","footnotes":""},"categories":[386,6,3],"tags":[447,421,444,17,28,13,11,448,449,373,9],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-islamic-estate-planning","category-islamic-inheritance","category-last-will-and-testament","tag-american","tag-does","tag-have","tag-islamic-heirs","tag-islamic-inheritance","tag-islamic-will","tag-muslim","tag-require","tag-sharia-2","tag-sharia-will","tag-will"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sharia Estate Requirements<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What are the requirements for estate distribution when preparing a Sharia compliant will?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/2020\/01\/11\/i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharia Estate Requirements\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What are the requirements for estate distribution when preparing a Sharia compliant will?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/2020\/01\/11\/i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"shariawiz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Shariawizdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-11T00:01:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T22:03:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shariawiz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shariawiz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/2020\/01\/11\/i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/2020\/01\/11\/i-am-an-american-muslim-does-the-sharia-require-me-to-have-a-will\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/shariawiz.com\/halaqa\/#\/schema\/person\/3a90eab34f6459b7c7a4833bd6a07172\"},\"headline\":\"I am an American Muslim. 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