gift, and such a gift or charity shall be annulled, for he has no right to waste the wealth of the people (amwāl alnās); and the Holy Prophet has said, “Whoever takes the wealth of the people that he may waste it, Allāh will destroy him, unless he is a man well-known for his patience (ṣabr) so that he prefers others before himself, though poverty may afflict him” (Bu. 24:18). Here, the individual property of a man is called the wealth of the people, and a man is prohibited from making even charitable gifts when he does not have sufficient to support those dependent on him. According to Ḥadīth the Holy Prophet is reported to have said: “Allāh hates three things in you: useless talk and wasting of wealth and asking or begging (su’āl) frequently” (Bu. 24:53). This ḥadīth is repeated frequently in the Bukhārī and other collections, and forms the basis of restrictions1 which may rightly be laid on owners of property for their benefit. The State is therefore entitled to make laws for the benefit of owners of property, placing restrictions on them as to the disposal of that property.

Guardian of minor

A guardian is also appointed to deal with the property of minors. The Quranic injunction on this point is as follows: “And test the orphans until they reach the age of marriage. Then if you find in them maturity of intellect, make over to them their property, and consume it not extravagantly and hastily against their growing up. And whoever is rich, let him abstain, and whoever is poor, let him consume reasonably. And when you make over to them their property, call witnesses in their presence; and Allāh is enough as a Reckoner” (4:6). A minor is thus not allowed to manage his own property which must be made over to a guardian. If the guardian is rich, he is required to do the work of guardianship honorarily, and if he is poor, his wages would be a charge on the property. The age of majority is eighteen years, according to Abū Hanīfah, in the case of males and seventeen in the case of females (H. II, p. 341), but according to Shāfi‘ī and Aḥmad, it is fifteen in both cases (H. II, p. 342). In a ḥadīth it is stated that Ibn ‘Umar was not enlisted in the army when he was fourteen years old but was taken when he was fifteen (Bu. 52:18), but this by no means shows that maturity of intellect is attained at fifteen, for at that time there were so few