Wasiat and Hibah: The Planning Instruments

A wasiat is a testament — but it works differently from a conventional will. Under the widely applied principle, a wasiat can direct up to one-third of the estate to beneficiaries who are NOT already faraid heirs — an adopted child, a charity, a waqf, a caregiver. The remaining two-thirds (or more) flows through faraid to the fixed heirs. A wasiat also appoints an executor (wasi) and records wishes — which alone can save a family months of court process even where it distributes nothing unusual.

A hibah is a gift made during your lifetime — and because ownership transfers before death, hibah assets sit outside the estate entirely, bypassing both faraid and the administration queue. This makes hibah a powerful instrument: a parent can hibah the family home to a specific child, or structure takaful proceeds via conditional hibah so they reach a spouse directly and immediately. The trade-off is real: a completed gift is completed — you have given the asset away, with conditions and revocability being precisely the territory where qualified advice becomes non-negotiable.

A rough conceptual map: faraid is the default rail; wasiat customises up to a third for non-heirs and appoints your executor; hibah moves specific assets to specific people outside the system while you live; and nomination (next lessons) accelerates access to institutional assets. These interact in legally precise ways that vary by state and situation — which is why documents scribbled at home routinely fail. Amanah Raya, Islamic banks, and licensed syariah-compliant estate planners draft wasiat and hibah professionally at modest cost; that fee is the cheapest insurance a family estate can buy.