Is it Permissible for Muslim Lawyer to Write Wills for Non-Muslims to Bequeath Wealth to Dogs or Animals?

প্রশ্ন · Question

Is it permissible for Muslim lawyer to write a will for a non-
Muslim client in accordance with the English law since the non-Muslim
may have bequeathed some or all of his wealth to such institutions
which may either be unknown or even prohibited like the institutions
for caring of dogs or sailors?

উত্তর · Answer

1: If the transaction is between a Kafir client and a Muslim lawyer, it is
a matter of hiring for the purpose of writing a will for the kafir as
dictated to by the client to the Muslim writer hired for this purpose.
Thus it is a contract of hiring (ijara) for writing the will. The lawyer
writes the will as the kafir tells him to write and then the lawyer takes
his wage and the relations ends there so far as the will is concerned...

If the matter is such then it is permitted with condition that nothing in
contravention to the Islamic ‘Aqeedah is mentioned in the will because
writing of anything in violation of the Islamic ‘Aqeedah is similar to
pronouncing such a thing and that is not permissible.

However it is preferred not to write such a will so long as it contains
matter which goes against the commands of Islam. This is to distance
oneself from appearing to agree with such clauses appearing in the will
of the kafir.

2: However if the transaction between the owner of the will and the
lawyer happens to a deal of representation (wakalah), i.e. the lawyer
represents the owner of the will and executes his will...he contacts the
concerned persons, informs them of the will and executes the process
in his capacity as representative of the owner of the will... then this is
not permitted because in such a condition the Muslim lawyer executes
a will in violation of the Islamic Shari'ah in which a Muslim believes.
19 Shawwal 1431 AH
28/09/2010 CE