Gifts

Parents consuming or giving away food belonging to their children

Q: My daughter is a small baby and doesn't have her teeth yet. Recently, someone sent some sweets for her as a present. However, due to her age, she cannot eat the sweets, and by the time she is old enough to eat them, the sweets will be expired. What should I do with the sweets? Is it permissible for me to eat them or give them to others?

Mother leaving her wealth to her daughters before her death

Q: Could Mufti please provide clarity on the following: A widow has 4 daughters, 1 half brother and 1 half sister.

1. Can she draw up an agreement, while she is alive that once she dies, her wealth goes to her four daughters only?

2. Can she leave her money in the bank, give it to her daughter's, but use it in a case of an emergency and also collect the returns, but her daughter's will only have access to the money once she dies?

3. Does she have to actually give the money to the daughters now, and have no access or rights over it, if she wants to only give it to her daughter's?

4. If she leaves the money in the bank, how does the estate have to be divided once she dies?

5. If one of her daughter's die before her, can the children of that particular daughter still have their mothers share? If so how should it be done?

Accepting a gift from the father of a thief

Q: An antique was gifted to us by the father of a friend who later was revealed to be a crook. He cheated us out of business and various mechanisms. We were unaware at the time he was an employee. This antique was gifted to us by the father of the crook who does not have good relations with his son who has gone astray. It is fully certified and carries the paperwork of authentication at Ministry of Tourism level. Hence our confusion and 2 scenarios:

1. Is it permissible to sell this antique and use the money for ourselves, since it was from the father and not from the son? Is it jaiz to assume a father might be like his son, the warning of making lawful things prohibited as in Surah Tahrim comes to mind. As well as the warning of acting on unfound suspicion as in Surah Hujarat. The father could be completely innocent.

2. If it is not permissible to use the money from the sale of the antique out of suspicion and caution, its not pure enough for sadqah either. Can it be used to pay off debts incurred by the scheming of this ex-employee? Kindly advise what to do with the money once the antique is sold. How may it be spent?