Property Hiba Doctrine of Pre emption Mutawali — powers and duties

A grandmother in Bhiwandi wants to give her flat to her granddaughter during her lifetime, without a sale and without waiting for a will. Next door, a co-owner of a shared courtyard hears it has been sold to an outsider and asks whether he had a right to buy it first. A few streets away, a family property has been set apart for a mosque and a school, and someone must manage it. Muslim law has a separate rule for each of these three situations: hiba (gift), pre-emption (shufa) and the office of mutawali (manager of a waqf).

In two minutes

Hiba is a gift without consideration that needs a declaration, acceptance and delivery of possession; pre-emption is a right to buy property sold to a stranger, exercised through three formal demands; and a mutawali is the manager, not the owner, of waqf property, bound by duties of trust.

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