Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 265
265 generally toward all things beneficial for the community as a whole, such as public health, public works, medical services, and educational institutions (9:60). It thus “fosters” the welfare of the community (9:103). Besides the Zakat , which has been described by the Prophet, as “a levy imposed upon the well-to-do which is returned to the poorer sections of the people,” 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 augment the share of one or more heirs to the prejudice of the remaining heirs. Each heir can