Yusuf had always meant to sort out his will.
He was forty-four — too young to feel urgent about it. He had a house, a pension, two children and a wife he trusted completely. He told himself that if anything happened, Maryam would handle it. She knew him. She knew what he would have wanted.
What he did not fully understand was that what he wanted and what the law required were two very different things.
When Yusuf died suddenly in a car accident in December, Maryam discovered that without a valid will, the distribution of his estate would be decided not by his wishes, nor by Islamic inheritance law, but by the UK's rules of intestacy.
“I thought because we were married, everything would automatically come to me. Nobody told me it doesn't always work that way.”
Under intestacy rules in England and Wales, a surviving spouse receives the first £322,000 of the estate plus half of anything above that. The remainder goes to the children. In Yusuf's case, this meant his two young children (aged eight and eleven) were entitled to a share of the family home.
The home could not be divided. Which meant it had to be assessed, which meant the possibility of a sale.
Maryam spent the next six months navigating a legal process she had not been prepared for, while simultaneously raising two grieving children alone.
The Islamic dimension
Islamic inheritance law — fara'id — is precise and specific. It allocates shares to heirs in proportions set out in the Quran. Up to one-third of an estate can be freely bequeathed; the remaining two-thirds must follow the fara'id.
Without a valid Islamic will, none of this happens automatically. UK law has its own rules. And while it is possible to apply Islamic principles within the framework of UK law, it requires a properly drafted Islamic will — signed, witnessed and ideally notarised — prepared by a solicitor who understands both systems.
Yusuf had neither.
What an Islamic will actually covers
An Islamic will — wasiyyah — is not complicated to obtain, but it does need to be done properly. It should specify the distribution of your estate according to fara'id, name your executor and any substitute executors, include any specific bequests up to one-third of your estate, and name a guardian for any children under 18.
It is a legal document. It must be signed by you and witnessed by two people who are not beneficiaries. It should be stored somewhere accessible (not locked in a safe that nobody can open) and your executor must know where it is.
The question to ask yourself tonight
Do you have a valid Islamic will?
Does your executor know where it is?
Does your spouse know what it says?
If the answer to any of these is no — or I'm not sure — that is where to start.
The Legacy Companion has a full Legal Directives section where you record your will location, your executor details, your LPA arrangements and your advance care wishes. It does not replace the will itself — but it ensures that when it matters most, the people who need to find it can.
If this story resonated with you —
The Legacy Companion was built for exactly this moment. A complete Islamic end of life planner — so your family never has to search during grief.
Shop the UK Edition or International Edition.
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