The Intention of Depriving Heirs in Conducts According to the Shafi‘i Scholars: A Critical Analytical Jurisprudence Study

Abstract

Conducts in which the owners were accused with the intent of depriving the heirs are manifested in many contracts in Islamic jurisprudence, the most prominent of which are the acknowledgment, the will, the vow and the endowment. There was a lot of controversy over the position of the Shafi‘i school of thought regarding these actions, and there was confusion in the circulation of opinions in the school, and a comprehensive opinion was not established for all forms of issues with regard to the intent of depriving the heirs on influencing the ruling. This article aims to clarify the chosen opinion in the Shafi‘i school of thought relating to the intention of depriving the heirs, relying on books from the Shafi‘i school of jurisprudence mainly in collecting data in addition to other books such as books of Qur’an interpretation and explanations of hadith, for completing the research. In analyzing the data, this article relies on the analytical and comparative method in order to reach preferred opinion among the conflicted ones. The article concluded that the intent to deprive the heirs differs in its effect on the ruling in various issues. In some cases, it does not affect it due to the predominance of another reason over it, and sometimes it affects the religious ruling rather than the judicial one. Other times it affects the judicial ruling because it contradicts the worship nature of the contract, so the intent to deprive the heirs does not affect the ruling as much as it needs a balance between it and other reasons in determining the ruling. Finally, this article recommended studying the subject as a comparative study of intentions in the four schools of thought, as adhering to the purposes of Sharia is to eliminate the jurisprudential dispute that could affect society.