The Book of Wills - Sahih Muslim 1628 i

This narration from Sahih Muslim concerns the illness of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas in Mecca and the visit he received from the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). The full text of the hadith details Sa'd's inquiry about bequeathing his entire wealth for charity, to which the Prophet guided him to allocate only one-third, ensuring his heirs' rights were preserved. This established the Islamic legal principle that a Muslim may will up to one-third of their estate to non-heirs, with the remaining two-thirds distributed according to the fixed shares prescribed in the Quran.

Scholarly Commentary

The scholars explain that this hadith demonstrates the wisdom of Islamic inheritance laws. While encouraging charity, the Shariah protects the financial rights of close relatives. The limitation to one-third prevents testators from disadvantaging their lawful heirs through excessive bequests.

This ruling applies specifically to voluntary bequests beyond the fixed shares. The Prophet's instruction "one-third is much" indicates that even this maximum allowance should be considered substantial, encouraging moderation in testamentary dispositions.

The repetition of this ruling in multiple narrations emphasizes its importance in Islamic jurisprudence, serving as a fundamental principle in the science of inheritance (ilm al-fara'id).