Islam and Human Rights — Page 65
Economic Values 65 works, medical services, and educational institutions (9:60). It thus “fosters” the welfare of the community (9:103). Besides the Zakat , which was described by the Prophet as “a levy imposed upon the well-to-do which is returned to the poorer section of the people”, 35 implying that it is their just due and must be paid back to them, there are other institutions within the economic sphere operating constantly to further the objective of the whole system. One of these is the Islamic system of inheritance and succession. Under this system a person may not dispose of more than one-third of his property by testamentary directions. While he is in the enjoyment of normal health he may dispose of his property freely, subject, of course, to the moral obligations, some of which have been noted; but neither by will nor by gift, once he enters upon a stage of illness which terminates in death, may he dispose of more than the permitted one-third. By such disposition he may provide legacies for friends, for servants, and for charity. The rest of the inheritance must be divided among prescribed heirs in specified shares. No part of the one - third permitted to be disposed of by will may be used to 35 Bukhari I, Sect. : Zakat , Ch. :Obligation of Zakat.