Q: I decided - with Allah’s Help - to establish a trading, agricultural, and manufacturing company with the following partners: Me, my first wife, and our children, an adult son who is eighteen years old and three young daughters; and my second wife and our children, a four-year son and a younger daughter. The company was established with a capital of 1 million Saudi Riyals divided into 10,000 shares, each valued at 100 Saudi Riyals. The shares are as follows: (Part No. 16; Page No. 244) I have 5,000 shares valued at 500,000 Riyals.My first wife has 1,000 shares valued at 100,000 Riyals.My second wife has 1,000 shares valued at 100,000 Riyals.Each son and daughter has 500 shares valued at 50,000 Riyals; they all have the same shares, with no difference between the boys and the girls, for the following reasons:First: The wealth that each son and daughter has shares in is their own personal wealth from gifts they have been given from their grandparents, aunts, and uncles since they were born. They are therefore entitled to these shares and I, as their father, am their guardian according to the Shari‘ah (Islamic law) and positive law.Second: As I am not distributing this property as a part of an estate or inheritance, I have not applied the principle that a son takes twice as much as a daughter. This wealth is the personal right of each son and daughter that cannot be shared by their mothers or me, their father.Third: What will be distributed among them, as my estate and my legacy after my death will be (Part No. 16; Page No. 245) my share in this company, and that will be distributed among them and their mothers according to the shares specified in the Shari‘ah.Fourth: In my view - which may be wrong - even if I was buying the shares for my sons and daughters from my own money as a gift for them, am I not required to give them gifts equally? Am n't I supposed to give equally to all my children as long as I am alive or is it also obligatory for me to apply the principle that a son gets twice as much as a daughter when giving gifts?In that case,
is it obligatory for me to make my sons’ shares in the company double that of my daughters’ or is it ok for them to be equal?
I hope that you will give me a Fatwa (legal opinion issued by a qualified Muslim scholar) from the point of view of the Shari‘ah on this matter so I can give each one their rights, as explaining the Islamic perspective on this issue will surely help me and may help others too. May Allah reward you with the best and guide you to what pleases Him!
A:
If the reality is as you mentioned in the question and in the attached copy of the company regulations, what you have done is correct. There is no need to make the shares of the males double that of the females, as long as the shares were bought with their own wealth, as was mentioned in the question. (Part No. 16; Page No. 246) However, if you are buying the shares from your own wealth, then according to the more correct of the two views maintained by the scholars, it is obligatory for you to apply the principle adopted in the division of inheritance, which entails giving the male twice the share of the female, because this is the division that Allah (Glorified be He) has chosen for them in inheritance, and the same is true for gifts. May Allah grant us success. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and Companions.