Copy Of Sharia Will With Instructions

13 September 2011 articles LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT I, the undersigned....................................................................................................................................... of......................................................................................hereby declare that this is my Last Will and Testament. 1. I revoke, cancel and annul all previous Wills, Codicils and other testamentary writings or statements made or executed by me at any time before. 2. I hereby nominate, constitute and appoint as the Executors of this my Will and Administrators of my Estate, the following persons: (i) (ii) (iii) In the event of any one or more of my said Executors or Administrators predeceasing me, or dying during his term of Office or declining to act, then the remaining or surviving Executors shall be authorised to act alone. Furthermore in the event of all such Executors or Administrators predeceasing me or dying during his term of office or declining to act, then I declare that anyone of the judicial bodies mentioned in Clause 6 shall be authorized to appoint one or more Executors or Administrators. 3. I hereby grant to the Executors of my Estate all such powers as are allowed by Law, especially the power of assumption. 4. I hereby direct that it shall not be necessary for my said Executors and Administrators, or any one of them in the event of the predecease of the others, to lodge security with the Master of the Supreme Court for the due performance of their duties. 5. I hereby direct that the Executors and Administrators of my Estate proceed with the distribution of my Estate in the following order of priority as commanded by Islamic Law of the Sunni School of Thought. (i) Payment of my funeral expenses. (ii) Payment of all my debts. (iii) Payment of the Wasiyyat (Bequest) which is set out in Schedule A annexed hereto. (iv) Distribution of the residue of my Estate to my Islamic heirs in accordance with Islamic Law of the Sunni School of Thought. 6. I hereby direct that a Certificate issued by the Jamiatul Ulama of Natal or Jamiatul Ulama of Gauteng or the Jamiatul Ulama of the Eastern Cape or the Mujlisul Ulama of South Africa, these being competent Islamic Judicial bodies, or by any qualified Aalim in Islamic Law shall be binding and conclusive as to the aforesaid Islamic Law and the distribution of my Estate. A qualified Aalim in Islamic Law for this purpose will be any man recognized as a qualified Aalim by any one of the Judicial bodies aforementioned. 7. I direct that any share under this my Will hereto devolving upon a female be paid to and become her sole, absolute and exclusive property, and be excluded from the community of property that may now or hereafter exist between her and any husband she has married or may marry and shall be free from the jus mariti and right of administration ordinarily to him accruing whether by virtue of the law of community of property or otherwise. The receipt alone of any female inheritor in my Estate, without the assistance of her husband, shall be a good and sufficient discharge to my Executors and/or Administrators therefor. 8. I hereby direct that any inheritance accruing to a minor child in terms hereof shall not be paid into the Guardians Fund but shall be held in Trust by my said Administrators until the said minor attains the age of majority in which event my said Administrators shall pay over to the said minor his/her share of the inheritance. The 'age of majority' mentioned herein above shall be as determined by Islamic Law. My said Administrators shall be empowered to invest assets held in Trust in such invest- ments as my Administrators may in their discretion determine provided that the investments are in accordance with Islamic Law. And my Administrators are authorized in their discretion to apply the income and in case of need a portion of the capital of the Trust assets for the maintenance, education and general welfare of the beneficiary of the Trust provided that any such application of income is in accordance with Islamic Law. 9. I direct that my Estate shall be wound up as expeditiously as possible until the final approval of the liquidation and distribution account. 10. I hereby direct that the Wasiyyat (Bequest) described in Schedule A, hereto, be examined by any one of the Islamic Judicial bodies mentioned in No. 6 above, or by any competent Aalim described in No. 6 above, and a certificate as to the validity of the Wasiyyat (Bequest) in Islamic Law be obtained from the Islamic Judicial body concerned. I direct that if the Wasiyyat (Bequest) stated in Schedule A hereto, be in conflict with Islamic Law, the Islamic Judicial Body concerned in examining this Wasiyyat will have the right to annul the Wasiyyat, the whole of it, if the whole be in conflict with Islamic Law or annul that portion of the Wasiyyat, which conflicts with Islamic Law. SIGNED by me, the Testator/Testatrix, in the presence of the two undersigned Witnesses. ....................................................... TESTATO/ TESTATRIX SIGNED by the Testator/Testatrix in the presence of us both, and in the presence of each other have affixed our signatures hereto as witnesses. AS WITNESSES: 1. .................................................. ISLAMIC DATE .................................................. 2. .................................................. ENGLISH DATE .................................................. WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO TO RENDER THE WILL VALID AND LEGAL 1) The testator (i.e. the one who makes a will) and two witnesses must sign each page of the Will. 2) The witnesses must not be under 14 years of age. They must be 14 or over. 3) The witnesses may not be beneficiaries or spouses of beneficiaries. For the purpose of signing Wills, 'beneficiaries' include the executors, administrators and guardians. 4) All signatories must be present throughout the signing process. No signatory may leave the room until all signatories have signed each page. 5) The date of signature should be inserted on the last page by the testator. 6) Any deletion, addition or alteration must be identified by the signatures (full signatures) of the testator and witnesses as described in No. 4, above. ------------------------------------------------ IF YOUR MARRIAGE IS REGISTERED IN COMMUNITY OF PROPERTY If by some misfortune you have registered your marriage in community of property, the Islamic Will will not be valid in terms of non-Muslim law. However, if for some reason you have cancelled or cancel your community of property contract, you can renew the registration of your marriage, if you so desire. When doing so, first enter into an Ante Nuptial Contract. Such a contract will enable you to make an Islamic Will which will be valid even in terms of the law of the country. Since it is compulsory according to the Shariah to distribute the deceased's estate in accordance with the Law of the Shariah, Muslims should make out an Islamic Will even if their marriages have already been registered in community of property. Although in this case the Islamic Will will not be valid in terms of kuffar law, nevertheless the testator should advise and instruct his Islamic heirs to fear Allah Ta'ala and to act in accordance with the Islamic laws of inheritance in the distribution of the estate. After the non-Muslim law has taken its course, the Islamic heirs must arrange a proper re-distribution of the deceased's estate to conform with the Command of Allah Ta'ala. ------------------------------------------------ WASIYYAT According to the Shariah, Wasiyyat is permissible for a non-heir. Wasiyyat in favour of an inheritor is not permissible. Clause No.5 (iii) of the Islamic Will makes mention of Wasiyyat. If the testator makes no wasiyyat, section (iii) of clause No.5 should be deleted by striking a line across it. All signatories should identify the deletion with their full signatures. If the testator wishes to make wasiyyat, the nature and description of the wasiyyat should be set out on a separate sheet of paper. On top of the sheet of the Wasiyyat paper, write: SCHEDULE A – WASIYYAT. When making out the Wasiyyat, bear in mind the following: a) A wasiyyat cannot be made for any Islamic heir as such Islamic heirs inherit automatically in the estate of the deceased. b) A wasiyyat is valid in only one third of the balance of the estate after payment of funeral expenses and debts. c) The Wasiyyat paper, viz., Schedule A, must also be signed by the testator and the witnesses ------------------------------------------------ If you require further clarification or information, do not hesitate to write to: MUJLISUL ULAMA OF SOUTH AFRICA, P.O.BOX 3393, Port Elizabeth, 6056 South Africa [email protected]