Asalamoalaikum wr wbr My maternal grandfather passed away 23 years ago. While he was alive he gave a piece of land as a gift to his only son in law (my father). All of his heirs were aware of this and did not say anything. But the legal paper work was not done. He passed away within that same year.My father gave the papers to my eldest uncle as my father lived abroad and trusted uncle to get the legal work done.After that everytime my mother or father demanded the papers uncle made some excuse and delayed until last year when my father demanded firmly uncle stated saying its going to be divided amongst all the heirs. Uncle came with some of the papers and asked my father that if he takes this land then my mother must give up her share in inheritance which still hasnt been divided. My father did not agree to this, saying its not up to him to waive her right. My father passed away this year with the papers still with uncle. Now uncle is asking for fatwa.Please reply clearly if the land was given as a gift is it still to be divided?What is the sin of doing all this?Breaking trust?Not dividing inheretance? Forcing someone to give up their rights?What is the value of legal documents in islam?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Dear sister, you should know that such issues in which there is a dispute require a judge to issue a verdict in its regard rather than a Fatwa. To reach an Islamic ruling on such issues requires listening to all the parties and (investigating) their evidence, so we cannot issue a decisive ruling about the disagreement that you asked about.

Therefore, we advise you to take the matter to an Islamic court, if any, or to orally ask the scholars who are eligible to issue judgements.

What we can say in brief, is that if the house that your grandfather had gifted to your father had fulfilled the conditions (of a gift) while your grandfather was still alive, then the ownership of the house was transferred to your father and the heirs of your grandfather are not entitled to claim it.

After the death of your father, this house is for his heirs.

Legally Documenting the gift is not a condition for its validity; rather, what matters is that it is Islamically confirmed, either by confession or testimony of witnesses.

However, if the gift of the house did not fulfill the conditions of a valid gift, then the house is still the property of the heirs and your father has no share in it.

As regards the importance of documenting contracts, such as a gift contract, a legally acceptable documentation, then there is no doubt that it is important to document the contracts by writing them or having people witness the transaction of the contract, whether they are contracts of gifts, sale, loan, will, or otherwise. That is because documenting contracts makes remembering them easy and no one would forget or deny them. Also, this prevents controversy and discord between the two parties of the contract.

When Allah ordered that the contract of debt be written and have people witness its documentation, He clarified the wisdom behind writing it Saying (what means): {That is more just in the sight of Allah and stronger as evidence and more likely to prevent doubt between you.} [Quran 2:282]

As-Si’di said:

"The testimony of witnesses combined with writing it is more complete and better; by doing this, one avoids doubts, suspicion, conflicts and dissention." [End of quote]

However, documentation is not a condition for the validity of a contract; for example, a gift becomes effective by offering (by the gifting person) and acceptance (by the gifted) and it is not a condition of validity to write it down or to have witnesses for it. The same thing applies to sales and loans etc.

It is not clear to us what you mean by “breaking the trust?”; if you mean breaching it, then there is no doubt that this is forbidden. Indeed, breaching the trust is one of the Signs of the Hour.

Additionally, it is not permissible to compel anyone to denounce a right that is Islamically confirmed to him/her, as this is consuming people's money unlawfully.

Also, none of the heirs has the right to force the other heirs to delay the division of inheritance. Inheritance is transferred to the heirs as soon as its owner dies, and each heir has the right to demand to take his/her share in the inheritance, and it is not permissible to force them to delay the division of the inheritance without an Islamically valid justification. Moreover, it is not permissible to force someone to renounce their right.

As we have already mentioned above, such disputes need judge to issue a verdict (in court) and not someone to issue a Fatwa.

Allah knows best.