Hiba — Gifts and Justice Between Children

The Ruling in Brief

A hiba is a gift transferred to another person during one's lifetime without any compensation. When a parent gives such gifts to their children, the Sunnah lays down a clear principle: children must be treated with justice ('adl). Singling out one child for a gift, or favouring some over others without a legitimate reason, is condemned in the strongest terms — the Prophet ﷺ himself refused to be a witness to it and named it jawr (injustice).

The scholars agree that fairness between children in gifts is commanded by the Sacred Law. Where they differ is on the exact weight of that command — whether unjustified favouritism is haram and the gift legally defective, or whether it is disliked (makruh) while remaining valid. The evidence, read plainly, gives the stronger position to obligation, and this is the view associated with Imam Ahmad, al-Bukhari (in his chapter arrangement), Ibn Taymiyyah, and others. Both positions are presented honestly below.

The Foundational Evidence: Nu'man ibn Bashir

The central text on this subject is the report of Nu'man ibn Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him and his father). His father gave him a gift, and his mother, 'Amrah bint Rawahah, would not be satisfied until the Prophet ﷺ was made a witness to it. When Bashir came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him to witness the gift, the Prophet ﷺ asked whether he had given the same to all of his children. When Bashir said no, the Prophet ﷺ delivered his rebuke and his command.

In the wording collected by Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ pressed the point further, showing that this fairness is rooted in the parent's own interest. He asked whether it would please the father for all his children to be equal in their devotion and dutifulness (birr) toward him. The father affirmed that it would. The reasoning is unmistakable: favouritism plants resentment and severs the very kindness a parent hopes to receive.

That the Prophet ﷺ called it jawr — injustice, tyranny, deviation from what is right — and refused to lend his own witness to it, is the pillar of the argument that unjustified favouritism is not merely disliked but forbidden. He did not merely advise; he commanded fairness (i'dilu, an imperative) and coupled it with taqwa of Allah.

The Qur'anic Foundation of 'Adl

The Prophetic command does not stand alone; it rests on the broad Qur'anic principle that Allah commands justice in every sphere of a believer's dealings. Justice between children in gifts is one application of a universal order.

A parent's home is the first place a child learns whether the world is fair. To favour one and slight another is to sow division within the family, to wound the neglected child, and — as the scholars note — potentially to breed enmity and the cutting of ties. Fairness in gifts is therefore also an act of ihsan and a means of guarding the bonds of kinship the same verse commands us to uphold.

What Does 'Justice' Require: Equality or Inheritance Shares?

Those who require fairness in gifts then differ on how the fairness is measured, and this is a genuine, respectable ikhtilaf among the People of Knowledge:

First view — strict equality between sons and daughters. Since the hadith speaks of being just 'between your children' generally and mentions equal birr from all of them, a gift given in the parent's lifetime should be divided equally: a daughter receives the same as a son. Gifts, on this reasoning, are not inheritance, and the Prophet ﷺ made no distinction of gender in his rebuke. This position is chosen by a number of the muhaqqiqin.

Second view — division according to inheritance shares. This is a well-known position within the Hanbali school, holding that 'adl here means giving each child what the Law itself apportions, so that the male receives the share of two females (as in Surah an-Nisa'), on the basis that Allah's own division is the very definition of justice. Both camps sincerely seek to obey the same command; they differ only in identifying its measure.

Taking Back a Gift

A separate but closely related ruling concerns revoking a gift once it has been given and taken possession of. The Sunnah portrays this in a repugnant image, to impress upon the believer how base it is to reclaim what one has already given for the sake of Allah.

There is, however, one recognised exception directly relevant to our topic: a father (and by extension a parent) may reclaim a gift he has given to his own child. This is established in the Sunan literature and graded authentic.

This exception is why the Prophet ﷺ could instruct Bashir to take back the gift he had unfairly given to Nu'man: it was a father recovering a gift from his son in order to restore justice. The exception is a permission, not a licence for caprice — its purpose here is precisely to undo an injustice, not to indulge a parent's changing whims.

The Scholarly Difference (Ikhtilaf) on the Ruling

On the core question — is unjustified favouritism forbidden and the gift invalid, or merely disliked but valid? — two positions are transmitted, and each is held by great imams deserving of respect.

The view of obligation (wujub). Favouring one child without cause is haram, and an eminent group hold that such a gift is not legally binding and should be corrected. Their proof is the Prophet's ﷺ naming it jawr, his refusal to witness it, his direct command to fear Allah and be just, and his ordering Bashir to revoke the gift. This is the position of Imam Ahmad, the apparent choice of al-Bukhari, Ibn Taymiyyah, and among later scholars Ibn Baz and Ibn 'Uthaymin — and the evidence supports it as the stronger view.

The view of dislike (karahah). The majority of the earlier jurists (including positions within the Hanafi, Maliki, and Shafi'i schools) held that favouritism is disliked and contrary to what is recommended, but that the gift itself remains valid and enforceable. They interpret the Prophet's ﷺ refusal to witness as a way of steering toward what is best and encouraging fairness, rather than as invalidating the transaction. This is an ijtihad by scholars who honoured the same texts.

The disagreement is one of interpretation of authentic evidence, not a dispute over whether the Sunnah calls for fairness — on that there is no argument. The safe path for every believer, and the one that removes all doubt, is to act on the clear command: fear Allah, and be just between your children. Whoever holds fast to that fairness has left the field of dispute entirely and followed the Prophet ﷺ without reservation.

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