A grandmother's gift to her grandchildren and a grandchild born later

A question about a grandmother who gave land to her sons' children and then died, after which one of her sons had a child, in which Jordan's General Iftaa Department answered that the gift covers only the grandchildren who existed when it was made, so once it became binding and was registered in their names, a later-born grandchild is not included. ¹

The questioner asked about a grandmother who gave land to her children's children and then died, after which a child was born to one of her sons: is the newborn included in the gift or not? ¹

The Department answered that a gift is the transfer of property during life without return, and that a grandmother's gift of land to her grandchildren in principle covers only the grandchildren alive at the time of the gift, not those not yet born. ¹ It quoted Sulayman al-Jamal in his gloss on Sharh al-Manhaj that a gift to an unborn child is impossible, since it can neither own nor have a guardian take ownership for it, and the Hanafi Shaykhi Zadah in Majma al-Anhur that a gift to an unborn child is invalid because acceptance is a condition and cannot come from a foetus. ¹ It concluded that once the gift was completed and the land registered in the names of the existing grandchildren, it became binding: the land belongs to those in whose names it is registered, and anyone not born before the gift became binding is not included. ¹

Jordan's General Iftaa Department published this fatwa on aliftaa.jo as no. 3963, dated 14 April 2025. ¹ The museum records this text as a historical document attributed to the body or scholar that issued it; it issues no ruling of its own.