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Fatwa CenterHis grandfather gifted him a land which his father claims its ownership
Question
Soon after I got married I was told that my grandfather has given me a piece of land from his property. I was also told this particular land was registered under my grandmother's name, though the property belongs to my grandfather. About a year after that my grandfather died and the heirs decided to shift the ownership of the land to me. I asked my father whether it is permissible for me to receive this gift. Thereafter I was told by my father that the land belongs to him and my grandfather has told to give it to me so that my father can take the ownership from my grandmother. I was also told that since my grandmother has got sons from a different marriage and he favours them more than my father and this was the reason why the land was registered under my grandmother's name and later my grandfather decided to give it to me. So my father took the ownership and sold the land to the company owned by him and a brother and sister of his. The money received for the land was used to built a hotel which is registered under the name of father's children including me. Has my father done the right thing here? Later I came to know that grandchildren were allowed to receive gifts from their grandparents not more than one third of their property. Will I be doing the right thing if I claim for the land now?
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. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.
It appears from the question that this gift is not confirmed because it was not owned by your grandfather who gifted it to you, rather it was owned by your father (who was his son), because your father informed you to this effect. Even if we presume that it was his [grandfather's] own and he gifted it to you, it was not possessed by you before his death, because if a gift is not possessed before the death of the donor then it belongs to the heirs. So this piece of land is either owned by your grandfather, and in this case it belongs to his heirs as it was not possessed by you before his death. Or that it belongs to your father, and so him registering it in all his sons names is correct, as it is not permissible for him to give it only to one son and not to others, unless the father gives them the same in a different form of wealth, as it is an obligation to be just between children when gifting them, according to the preponderant opinion of the scholars
. We have already discussed this with evidence in Fatwa 83266, so please refer to it.
Allaah Knows best.
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