Muwatta' Malik 37-1

Translation

Malik related to me from Nafi from Abdullah ibn Umar that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "It is the duty of a muslim man who has something to be given as a bequest not to spend two nights without writing a will about it." Malik said, "The generally agreed-on way of doing things in our community is that when the testator writes something in health or illness as a bequest, and it has freeing slaves or things other than that in it, he can alter it in any way he chooses, until he is on his deathbed. If he prefers to abandon a bequest or change it, he can do so unless he has made a slave mudabbar (to be freed after his death). If he has made him mudabbar, there is no way to change what he has made mudabbar. He is allowed to change his testament because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "It is the duty of a muslim man who has something to be given as a bequest not to spend two nights without writing a will about it." Malik explained, "Had the testator not been able to change his will nor what was mentioned in it about freeing slaves, each testator might withhold making bequests from his property, whether in freeing slaves or other than it. A man gives a bequest in his health and in his travelling." (i.e. he does not wait till his death bed ). Malik summed up, "The way of doing things in our community about which there is no dispute is that he can change whatever he likes of that except for the mudabbar."

Grades by grader

What scholars said about it

In their own words, as Hadith Unlocked records them. They are shown, not summarised into a grade.

• Ibn ʿAbd al-Barr

  لا خلاف عن مالك في لفظ هذا الحديث ولا في إسناد

  in موطأ مالك, p. 1391

Other narrations of this report

Sunan Ibn Majah 2699Musnad Ahmad 4469Musnad Ahmad 4578Musnad Ahmad 4902Musnad Ahmad 5118Musnad Ahmad 5197

Narrators

1. 1
   ʿAbdullāh b. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb

   One of the Companions who narrated most often, and one of the ʿAbādilah; he was among the people most strict in following the narrations (athar).d. 72 AH, or 73 AH, or 74 AH, also said: 75 AH
   عَبْدُ اللهِ بْنُ عُمَرَ بْنِ الْخَطَّابِأحد المكثرين من الصحابة والعبادلة ، وكان من أشد الناس اتباعا للأثر
   عن
2. 2
   Nāfiʿ mawlá Ibn ʿUmar

   trustworthy (thiqah), reliable (thabt), a well-known jurist (faqīh)d. 116 AH, or 117 AH, or 118 AH, or 119 AH, or 120 AH
   نَافِعٍثقة ثبت فقيه مشهور
   عن
3. 3
   Mālik b. Anas

   The jurist (al-faqīh), the Imam of the Abode of Migration (Imām Dār al-Hijrah), the head of the proficient masters, and the foremost among the meticulous.d. 178 AH, or 179 AH
   مَالِكٌالفقيه ، إمام دار الهجرة ، رأس المتقنين ، وكبير المتثبتين

Who each narrator was and how reliable, from hdith.com

Latin names and English verdicts with a dotted underline are machine translations, not reviewed.