Aslam

Praise be to Allah.1.The

hadeeth is:

It was

narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah that a man said: “O Messenger of

Allaah, I have wealth and children, but my father wants to take all my

wealth.” He said, “You and your wealth are for your father.”

(Narrated by Ibn Maajah, 2291; Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh,

2/142 from the hadeeth of Jaabir, and 2922; Ahmad, 6902 from the hadeeth

of ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr).

And Ahmad narrated from ‘Amr ibn

Shu’ayb from his father from his grandfather, who said: A Bedouin came

to the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon

him) and said: “My father wants to take all my wealth.” He said,

“You and your wealth are for your father. The best that you can eat is

what you have earned, and your children’s wealth is part of what you

have earned, so eat it and enjoy it.”

This

report has other isnaads and corroborating reports which make it saheeh.

(See Fath

al-Baari, 5/211; Nasb

al-Raayah,3/337)

2.The

laam in the hadeeth (li

in li abeeka – for your

father) does not mean possession, rather it means permission.

Ibn

al-Qayyim said:

The laam

in the hadeeth does not mean possession at all… If we say that it means

permission, then the hadeeth makes sense, otherwise it does not have any

significance.

(I’laam

al-Muwaqqi’een, 1/116)

3.One

of the things which indicate that it does not mean possession is the fact

that the son’s children, wife and mother can inherit from him. If his

wealth were the property of his father, no one would be able to take his

property except the father.

Al-Shaafa'i

said:

Because

it was not proven. When Allaah decreed that a father could inherit from

his son, He made him (the father) like other heirs. He may even have a

smaller share than many other heirs, which proves that the son is the

owner of his own wealth, not the father.

(al-Risaalah,

p. 468)

4.This

permission is not absolute. It is subject to four conditions.

Shaykh

Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah preserve him) said:

This

hadeeth is not da’eef (weak) because it has corroborating reports. What

this means is that if he (the son) has wealth, the father has the right to

enjoy that wealth and to take whatever he wants from it, but this is

subject to certain conditions:

The

first condition: that by taking it he does not cause harm to his son. If

it does cause harm – such as taking his cover with which he protects

himself from the cold, or he takes his food with which he wards off hunger

–it is not permissible for the father to do this.

The

second condition: it should not be something that the son needs. If the

son has a concubine whom he sleeps with, it is not permissible for the

father to take her, because his son needs her. Similarly, if the son has a

car which he needs for getting about, and he does not have enough cash to

buy a replacement, then the father does not have the right to take it

under any circumstances.

The

third condition: he should not take the wealth from one of his sons in

order to give it to another, because this creates enmity between the sons

and because it means preferring one of the children over another, if the

second son is not in need. If he is in need, then the father’s giving

something to the one who is in need and not to the ones who are not in

need, does not mean that he is preferring one child over another; on the

contrary, it is obligatory for him to do this.

Whatever

the case, the hadeeth is something which the scholars refer to and use as

evidence. But there are conditions attached, as we have mentioned. The

father does not have the right to take one son’s wealth and give it to

another son.

And Allaah knows best.

(Fataawa

Islamiyyah,4/108, 109)

There is also a fourth condition, which is that the father should be in

need of the wealth that he is taking from his son. This condition is

clearly stated in some ahaadeeth.

It was narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) said:

the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)

said: “Your children are a gift from Allaah to you: ‘He

bestows female (offspring) upon whom He wills, and bestows male

(offspring) upon whom He wills’ [al-Shoora 42:49 – interpretation of

the meaning]. So they and their wealth are for you, if you have

need of it.”

(narrated by al-Haakim, 2/284; al-Bayhaqi, 7/480)

The hadeeth was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in al-Silsilah

al-Saheehah, 2564, where he says:

This hadeeth contains an important fiqhi point which is that it explains

that the famous hadeeth, “You and your wealth are for your father” (al-Irwaa’

838) does not give the father absolute permission to take whatever he

wants from his son’s wealth. Far from it! But he may take whatever he is

in need of.

And Allaah knows best.