Favouring some children over others in a gift

Question

Question: A person wishes to make a waqf for his descendants (waqf ‘ala al-awlad) or to make a gift (hiba) to his children, and in doing so wishes to adopt a course of distinction and preference: to some of his children he wishes to give nearly all the income by way of waqf or gift, while to others he gives a portion that counts for nothing. Is such preference and favouring valid in the Shari‘a or not?

Answer

Distinction and preference without a Shar‘i reason is a sin. That is, if the aim is to harm one and to benefit another, and there is no Shar‘i reason for this benefit and this harm, then doing so is a sin; nevertheless, when this is done the gift will be valid, that is, the one who received less has no right in the Shari‘a to make the one who received more give to him.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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