Masalat al-Waqf fi Marad al-Mawt - Dimn "Athar al-Mualimi
- Author died
- 1386 AH
- Editions
- Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Mas'alat al-Waqf fi Marad al-Mawt (The Issue of Endowment During Terminal Illness) is a legal treatise by the Yemeni scholar Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani (1313–1386 AH / 1895–1966 CE) examining the jurisprudential rulings governing property endowments executed during deathbed sickness .
Subject Matter and Scope
The treatise addresses a specific question within Islamic property law and the jurisprudence of endowments (waqf): the legal status of an endowment created by a person suffering from a fatal or terminal illness (marad al-mawt) . In classical jurisprudence, gratuitous transfers made during terminal illness are generally treated analogously to testamentary bequests (wasiyya), which are legally restricted to a maximum of one-third of the deceased's net estate to protect the designated shares of the legal heirs . Al-Mu'allimi investigates the legal mechanisms of such endowments, the extent to which they take effect immediately or remain contingent upon the consent of the heirs, and the differences between endowments designated for non-heirs versus those made in favor of existing heirs .
Methodology
Al-Mu'allimi approached legal topics by examining textual proofs from the Quran and the Prophetic hadith, engaging in analytical legal reasoning (ijtihad and tahrir), and scrutinizing the arguments and consensus claims across the various schools of jurisprudence . Rather than adhering strictly to school-based imitation (taqlid), he analyzed the underlying legal cause ('illa) of restricting deathbed donations—namely, preserving the attached financial rights of heirs upon the onset of mortal disease .
Publication and Preservation
Like the majority of al-Mu'allimi's specialized legal writings, the treatise remained in manuscript form among his draft notebooks and personal papers preserved in the Library of the Haram al-Makki in Mecca during his lifetime . It was later edited from the author's manuscripts and published as part of his collected legal writings (Majmu' Rasa'il al-Fiqh) within the multi-volume project Athar al-Shaykh al-'Allamah Abd al-Rahman al-Mu'allimi al-Yamani .
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