An Analysis of the Shī‘a and Sunnī Views to Free Will Made to the Relatives

One of the main issues in the domain of personal status that has led to disagreement among the Imāmīyya and four Sunnī denominations is the tabarru‘ī (free) will made to the relatives. Regarding this issue, there are three viewpoints. Some Sunnī scholars do not deem permissible making such a will to the heir and believe that the Will verse has been abrogated by the Inheritance verse, the narration «Lā waṣīyya li-wārith» that has been narrated from the Prophet of Allāh (s) confirms this claim, and making will to the relatives brings about envy and animosity among the heirs. On the contrary, Imāmīyya believes that the Inheritance verse cannot be the abrogator here. Moreover, they say that such a claim cannot be proved using a singular narration with an speculative implication; that is, the claim for the causation of animosity is not general and cannot be true for all cases. In addition, there exist many narrations from Imāms (a) whose content deem permissible making a will to the heir. Their argumentation based on the Will verse shows the permissibility of such an act. However, another group of Sunnī scholars believe that the permission by the heir is necessary for the accuracy of making will for the relatives, and the prophetic narration «Lā waṣīyya li-wā rith illā an yashā’a al-waratha» confirms it. Of course, this narration is also singular, has speculative implication, and is weak in terms of chain of transmission.