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Fatwa CenterAmount of estate and beneficiaries unspecified in will
Question
Assalaamu ‘Alaykum; Please calculate the inheritance according to the following information -Does the deceased have male relatives who are entitled to inherit: (A nephew from a full brother) Number 8 - The will which the deceased left behind and that is related to his inheritance is : Some inheritance were given gold jewlery
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
If the deceased did not leave any other heirs except his eight nephews (from his full-brother), then his inheritance will be divided amongst them equally by Ta’seeb (by virtue of having a paternal relation with the deceased and not having a prescribed share, so they get what is left after the prescribed shares have been distributed) after the execution of the will.
However, there are some issues in regard to the mentioned will:
1- You did not mention to us whether the person who had made the will specified the beneficiary, whether it is a certain person, or general beneficiaries, like the poor, or whether it is to be spent in acts of righteousness or the like. In that case, it could be executed. But in case he did not specify the beneficiary, then the will is invalid.
2- The will is made on a part of the estate, and the exact amount is not specified. In that case, it is the heirs who should determine the amount and they should give whatever they wish. Ibn Qudaamah 
said in Al-Mughni: “Chapter: If he made a will for a part, or share, or portion, or some of his money, then the heirs would give him [the beneficiary] what they wish. I do not know of any difference of opinion about this; this is also the view of Abu Haneefah, Ash-Shaafi'i, Ibn Al-Munthir, and others; because everything is a part, a share, or portion, or some (of a thing).”
The Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The jurists unanimously agreed that it is permissible to make a will for some of the estate if it is an unspecified part, such as if someone makes a will on a portion or share of his property. To clarify, it would be said to the heirs, ‘give [the beneficiary] something’ because [the amount] is unspecified and can either be small or great.”
3- The will is on gold jewelry. This involves two issues:
A- He might have meant that the will would be distributed as gold jewelry that he possessed. In that case, the heirs are obliged to give the will from this gold jewelry because he made a will on an unspecified portion of something that itself is specified.
B- If he did not possess gold jewelry, then what is meant is that gold jewelry should be purchased. In that case, it is obligatory to purchase the gold jewelry as this is part of executing the will. If the price of the gold jewelry is more than a third of the entire estate, then one should purchase it using only a third and the approval of the heirs is required for anything exceeding a third. Al-Bahr Ar-Raa’iq reads: “If he makes a will to purchase a cow for twenty Dirhams and offer it as a sacrifice but a third of his money did not reach that amount, then whatever the third can purchase should be purchased; it is the same case if he did not designate an amount, then it would be purchased with one-third.”
However, if it is not possible to buy any gold jewelry except with what exceeds a third – and this is rare – and the heirs did not approve of that, then the will is invalid because it is not possible to execute it. Ibn Qudaamah said in regard to a will to purchase a slave and emancipate him and it is not possible to purchase him because one-third is not sufficient for the price: “If it is not possible to purchase the slave because his master refuses to sell him,…or that a third [of the inheritance] is not enough to buy him, then the price [the third] is for the heirs because the will is invalid as it is impossible to execute.”
Allaah Knows best.
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