Ibn Majah

Benefits and Issues:

➊ The importance of debt is greater than that of a bequest (wasiyyah) in the sense that debt is obligatory to be repaid both during one’s lifetime and after death, whereas a bequest (wasiyyah) is only actionable after death. No matter how much the debt is, its repayment is necessary, whereas if a bequest exceeds one-third of the estate, only up to one-third is actionable, not more.

➋ From the wealth of the deceased, the first thing to be spent is the shrouding and burial expenses, then the debt is paid, then whatever remains, the bequest (wasiyyah) up to one-third or less is fulfilled. After that, the remaining estate is distributed among the heirs.

➌ The mention of the bequest (wasiyyah) before debt in the verse does not mean that the bequest should be fulfilled first and then the debt repaid; rather, it means that both matters are obligatory. Whichever of the two is present should be fulfilled. If both (bequest and debt) exist, then after fulfilling both from the estate, the remainder is distributed. Furthermore, mentioning the bequest first may also indicate that acting upon the bequest is often not given much importance, as debts are often forcibly collected by people. By mentioning the bequest first, it is clarified that there should be no negligence in acting upon it, even though it will be executed only after the repayment of debts.

➍ The full siblings of the deceased take precedence over half-siblings.

➎ Our esteemed researcher has declared the mentioned narration weak in its chain of transmission and has further written that a hadith of similar meaning, which is of hasan (good) grade, has already been mentioned and serves as a supporting witness for it. This shows that, according to our esteemed researcher, the mentioned narration does have some basis. Furthermore, some other scholars have also graded it as hasan, therefore, despite the mentioned narration being weak in its chain, due to other supporting evidences, it reaches the level of hasan. For further details, see: (al-Irwa’: 6/107, 109, no. 1667)

Explanation:
1:
That is:
From the context of the verse, it appears that first the bequest (wasiyyah) of the deceased will be fulfilled,
then his debt will be paid.
However, according to the statement of the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), the debt is to be paid first,
then the bequest is to be executed.
This is also the view of all the scholars.

Note:
(This hadith is authentic due to corroborating narrations and supporting evidence;
otherwise, its narrator “Harith al-A‘war” is weak.
See:
al-Irwa’ no. 1667)

1:
This is an allusion to the verse of the Noble Qur’an: ﴿مِنْ بَعْدِ َوصِيَّةٍ يُّوصِى بِهَا أَوْ دَيْن﴾ (an-Nisa: 12).

Benefit:
From this, it is understood that in the distribution of the deceased’s wealth, the debt should be paid first, and then the bequest (wasiyyah) should be fulfilled. In the Noble Qur’an, the bequest is mentioned before the debt; this is because emphasis is intended, as there is usually negligence in fulfilling bequests. In the hadith, it is established that the debt is given precedence. Sayyiduna Ali radi Allahu anhu says: “You recite in the verse «مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصِي بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ», whereas the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam decided that the debt should be paid before the bequest.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi: 2122) Imam Tirmidhi says: The unanimous position of all the scholars is that the debt will be paid before the bequest.