In distress and wishing to die
21-4-2008 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalam Alikum, my younger sister took khula on the advise of my mom because she was physically abused by her mother in law. against the court orders the husband took away the infant. my sister was depressed that after iddath she was married to older ,three times divorced man on the promise that he will take her for a life time. this man divorced his ex wives because his mother could not tolerate his married life as she was twice widowed herself and brought up her only son with lots of hardship. now they are wealthy because he went to gulf in his youth and earned a lot. the mother in law promised my mom that she will settle his son now with out interferring in his life but she repeated her behaviour. they even hid the issue of lost of family status visa due to multiple divorces. my sister was kept with her mother in law, who fabricated false accusations and kicked my sister out of her house when she was pregnant with second child, the infant son was taken away from her ,they did same as previous marriage. her husband was told by his mom he could live with the son rest of his life. after living for many years seperated,she was divorced,now she has a daughter, my mom got multiple health problems because of worries. my brothers support financially my parents, they are married abroad, though younger their wives mistreat her because she is divorced and servives on their husbands money. having endured so much she replies back to them and to this my brothers react, to which she has to reconcile and ask pardon. my father also says since they are helping her though she is eldest , she must listen to them. my sister wants to work but can not because she has to look after dad, recently my mom died. she is taking care of house, now my brother wants to shoulder the responsibility of property. my sister did physically for the family. inheritence is distributed as per shariah. my question is how we should treat her in will and in life. she is so much depressed wants to die.
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Undoubtedly, your sister experienced much affliction, so we advise her to be patient. Patience wipes out sins and raises a person’s status; for more benefit on the excellence of patience, please refer to Fatwa 83577.
However, despairing from the mercy of Allaah is of no avail.
As regards the statement ‘she wants to die’, if you mean that she wishes death or wants to commit suicide, then both acts are forbidden.
For more benefit on the seriousness of committing suicide, please refer to Fatwa 84296, and to Fataawa 89820 and 105108 on the prohibition of wishing death.
Moreover, we do not know what you mean by a will for this sister, if you mean that your mother had made a will for her, then this is not valid as there is no will for an heir unless all the heirs agree to it. However, if you mean a will made by her brothers or sisters, then this is permissible as she is not entitled for inheritance since her father is still alive.
As regards being kind to her in this life, then you should perform all acts of kindness to her and try to alleviate her sufferings. Besides, you should seek a pious husband for her.
Finally, we do not understand what you mean by your brother wanting to shoulder the responsibility of the property and other questions related to it.
Allaah Knows best.