Hibah
Lifetime Gifts
A Hibah is a gift made during your lifetime, completed by an immediate transfer, and entirely separate from your Wasiyyah. It isn't subject to the one-third cap, and it can go to anyone. Wasiyat documents and tracks it alongside your complete estate plan.
What you can do with Wasiyat's Hibah module
No one-third cap
A Hibah is not a bequest, so the Wasiyyah cap doesn't apply. Gift any amount, of any asset, to anyone, while you're alive.
Give to anyone, including non-heirs
Unlike a bequest, a Hibah can go to a classified heir without unanimous consent from the others, or to anyone outside the family entirely.
Doctrine-aware validity rules
Hanafi fiqh permits a revocable Hibah before delivery; Shafi'i and Maliki require actual delivery (qabd) for full validity. Wasiyat applies the correct rule for your school.
Cash, assets, or a documented promise
Record a completed gift of cash or a specific asset, or document a promise of a future gift, each tracked with its own status.
Linked to your real assets and family
Connect a Hibah directly to a specific asset or family member already in your estate plan, kept separate from Faraid and Wasiyyah calculations.
Recipient confirmation by email
Gift confirmations are delivered to recipients, creating a documented record independent of your own account.
Why documenting a Hibah properly matters
A Hibah sits outside the one-third cap and outside the heir-consent requirement that bequests carry, which is exactly what makes it useful, and exactly why it has documented history of being misused to quietly reduce what a daughter or wife would otherwise inherit under Faraid. Recording every Hibah clearly, with a real transfer, a dated record, and a recipient confirmation, protects the giver's genuine intent and gives every heir a transparent picture of the full estate, rather than leaving gifts undocumented and open to dispute after the fact.
A Hibah is one part of a complete estate plan, build yours alongside your Will, Waqf, and inheritance calculation.
Start Your Estate PlanFrequently Asked Questions
What is a Hibah in Islamic law?
A Hibah is a gift made during the giver's lifetime, completed by an immediate, unconditional transfer of possession. Because it takes effect before death rather than through the estate, a Hibah is not subject to the one-third Wasiyyah cap and can be made to anyone, heir or non-heir alike. This is a genuinely separate mechanism from a bequest, not a workaround for the cap.
Can a Hibah be used to unfairly bypass a daughter's or wife's inheritance share?
This is a real and documented concern, not a hypothetical one. Because a Hibah sits outside the one-third cap and outside the requirement for heir consent that bequests carry, it can in practice be used to transfer most of an estate away before death, leaving little for Faraid to distribute, and legal and social research on Muslim women's property rights in India has specifically flagged this pattern. A Hibah made for exactly this purpose, to defeat an heir's rightful share through timing rather than genuine gift-giving, sits in tension with the spirit of Islamic inheritance law even where it may be technically executed. If you're on the receiving end of a dispute like this, or want to plan in a way that doesn't create one, consult a qualified Islamic scholar alongside a lawyer.
What makes a Hibah valid under Islamic law?
The core requirement across schools is a genuine, completed transfer, not merely a stated intention. Hanafi fiqh treats a Hibah as revocable until delivery (qabd) actually occurs; Shafi'i and Maliki fiqh generally require delivery for the gift to be valid at all. A promise to gift something in the future, without an actual transfer, is not the same as a completed Hibah under most schools.
Is a Hibah legally recognised in India?
Yes. Gifts under Muslim personal law are recognised in India, and for immovable property a gift is typically formalised through a Hibah-nama (gift deed), which may need registration depending on the property and state. Wasiyat documents the Hibah as part of your estate plan; formal registration of the underlying gift deed, where applicable, is a separate step through the relevant sub-registrar.
How is a Hibah different from a Waqf?
A Hibah transfers ownership of an asset to a specific person, who can then use, sell, or gift it onward, exactly like any other owner. A Waqf permanently locks the asset itself and only ever distributes its income, to a purpose rather than to an individual owner. If you want to give someone an asset outright, that's a Hibah; if you want an asset to permanently generate income for a cause, that's a Waqf.
This page provides general information about Hibah under Islamic law and does not constitute legal advice. Registration requirements for gift deeds vary by property type and state. Wasiyat (Khair Labs Private Limited) is not a law firm, consult a qualified Islamic scholar and a lawyer for your specific situation.