WIDOWS. Arabic armalah (ارملة). Heb. אַלְמָנָה almānāh. Mourning is incumbent upon a widow for a period of four months and ten days after the death of her husband. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 370.) After this period she may lawfully take another husband, provided she be not pregnant of her first husband. A widow’s share of her late husband’s property is one-eighth when there is a child, or a son’s child, how low soever, and a fourth when there is no child. Though a man may have as many as four wives, the provision for two or more is the same as that for one: the fourth or eighth, as the case may be, being divisible among them equally. (Baillie’s Law of Inheritance, p. 59.)
If a Muslim, whose wife was once a Christian should die, and his widow appear before a Qāẓī and declare that she is Muslim, and that she embraced the faith prior to the death of her husband, and the heirs assert the contrary, the assertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the rights of the widow. And if a Christian die, and his widow appear before the Qāẓī as a Muslim, and the heirs declare the contrary, the assertion of the heirs is to be credited to the exclusion of the widow. (Grady’s Hidāyah, p. 347.)
WILLS. Arabic waṣīyah (وصية), pl. waṣāyā, which term is held by Muslim legists to mean “an endowment with the property of anything after death, as if one person should say to another, ‘Give this article of mine, after my death, to a particular person.’ ”
The testator is called mūṣī, fem. mūṣīyah. The legatee is termed mūṣa la-hu. The legacy, mūṣa bi-hi. The person appointed to carry out the will, or the executor, is called the wasīy, pl. auṣīyā.
It is not necessary that the will of a Muslim should be executed in writing, but it must be certified to by two male witnesses, or one male and two females.
The following are some of the chief points in Muslim law, regarding the making and the execution of wills:—
Wills are lawful and valid to the extent of a third of the testator’s property, but not to any further extent unless by consent of the heirs, and it is laudable to avoid making bequests when the heirs are poor.
A bequest to an heir is not valid unless confirmed by the other heirs, and a bequest to a person from whom the testator has received a mortal wound is not valid; and if a legatee slay his testator, the bequest in his favour is void.
A bequest to a part of the heirs is not valid.
Bequests are valid between Muslims and Ẕimmīs, that is, between Muḥammadans and Jews or Christians under protection. [[ZIMMI].]