Marad al-mawt is the final illness, during which gifts are treated as bequests.
The Canadian position
Canadian equivalents are suspicious circumstances, undue influence and testamentary capacity.
Canadian law gives effect to whatever a valid will says, so an Islamic concept takes effect here through the drafting rather than automatically.
The Islamic position
The one-third cap and the bar on gifting to heirs both apply to transfers made then.
Confirm the position for your own family and school with a qualified scholar rather than relying on a general summary.
It is treated as a bequest. The Kuwaiti Mawsu’a records the Hanafis, Shafi’is, Malikis and Hanbalis as agreeing, by name, that a gift made by a person in his death-illness takes effect only so far as one third of his estate will carry it; anything beyond the third hangs on the other heirs’ ratification after he dies — if they allow it, it stands; if they refuse, it falls. Where the recipient is himself an heir the same four schools require the other heirs’ consent whether or not the gift is within the third, exactly as for a bequest to an heir. If the donor recovers, it was never a death-illness at all and the transfer is an ordinary gift.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — A gift made in the final illness — gift or bequest?.
Related madhhab issue: The one-third cap on a bequest.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- Sahih al-Bukhari, Book 55: Wills and Testaments (Wasaya) — Sunnah.com
- Sahih Muslim, Book of Wills — Sunnah.com
- Grewal v. Litt, 2019 BCSC 1154 — CanLII
- Wills, Estates and Succession Act, SBC 2009, c 13 — BC Laws
- Canadian Legal Information Institute — CanLII
- Undue influence will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Undue influence will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Suspicious circumstances doctrine will challenge ontario — Treadstone Law
- Charitable gifts bequests ontario will — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law