Question

Assalamu alaykum mufti Saab I would like to enquire a masala
The situation is as follows:
Person A in Saudi Arabia wanted to give 10000 riyals cash as a gift to person B in South Africa so he contacted him and informed him of his intention so person B accepted verbally.Then A gave these riyals to person C in Saudi and told C to give it to B when possible . Person C took the riyals and even informed B of it being in his possession to which B consented . A passed away before the money could be handed physically to B . Will this money belong to B or will it be considered to be mirath? Jazakallahu khairan

Answer

In order for a gift transaction to be complete the giftee must take possession of the amounts being gifted. Based on the information in the question it seems that C was an agent and representative of A. In this case, C’s possession of the funds will be equal to A possessing the funds and therefore the funds had not passed over to B before A passed away. This will result in the gift transaction being incomplete and can no longer be completed. Therefore, the funds will remain in the ownership of A and will be distributed as part of A’s inheritance.

Had B appointed the agent then the possession of the agent would have been sufficient to establish B’s possession and ownership. However, this does not seem to be the case here.

الدر المختار وحاشية ابن عابدين (رد المحتار) (5/ 690)
وتتم) الهبة (بالقبض) الكامل
قوله: بالقبض الكامل) وكل الموهوب له رجلين بقبض الدار فقبضاها جاز خانية

الفتاوى الهندية (4/ 374)
وَمِنْهَا أَنْ يَكُونَ الْمَوْهُوبُ مَقْبُوضًا حَتَّى لَا يَثْبُتَ الْمِلْكُ لِلْمَوْهُوبِ لَهُ قَبْلَ الْقَبْضِ

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel