Is it permissible to take back something that one has donated? If a woman donates her mahr to her husband willingly and then wants to take some of it back, will it be a sin? Or, does her husband have to give it back?

- Is it permissible to take back something that one has donated? If a woman donates her mahr to her husband willingly and then wants to take some of it back, will it be a sin? Or, does her husband have to give it back? Will it be a sin if he does not give it back?

Dear Brother / Sister,

The following is reported from Hz. Umar:

"I donated a pedigree horse in the path of Allah. Its possessor made it languish. I thought that he would sell it at a cheap price. I asked the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) about its decree. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, 

‘Do not buy it and do not get back your charity, for one who gets back the charity is like a dog who swallows its vomit.’" (Muslim, Hibat, 1)

Hiba (donation/gift) is done gratuitously and it is not taken back. However, if a person decides to donate something and if he still has it, he can give up his donation even if the person to whom he has decided to donate is a stranger. However, it is regarded as makruh. This view, which is adopted by Hanafis, is based on Hz. Umar, Hz. Ali, Abdullah b. Umar, Abu Hurayra and Fudala b. Ubayd.

The Prophet regards it a bad deed to give up one’s donation. According to the Companions mentioned above, the simile in the hadith is not in terms of shari’ah, but in terms of ethics. For, a dog is not responsible for halal and haram things. The ugliness of the act is indicated in the hadith.  (Sahih Muslim Translation and Explanation, A. Davudoğlu, VIII/147,148). On the other hand, some hadiths that permit giving up donation were also reported. The following is stated in a hadith:

"A man has more right to his gift so long as he has not gotten something in return for it." (Ibn Majah, Hibat, 6; as-Sarakhsi, ibid, XII/48)

The states that prevent taking donation back:

a) Blood kinship: Donation to close blood relatives that one cannot marry like one’s parents, grandparents, children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, paternal uncles, paternal aunts, maternal uncles and maternal aunts cannot be cancelled.

b) Spouses: If one spouse donates something to the other, he/she cannot take it back.

c) Price (return, requital): If one gets something material in return for the donation, he cannot take it back.

d) If an increase takes place in the thing that is donated, for instance, if a house is built on the land that is donated.

e) If the thing that is donated is no longer owned by the person to whom it has been donated; for instance, if it has been sold, donated to somebody else, destroyed or consumed. 

f) The death of one of the parties. If the person to whom something has been donated dies, the person who has donated it cannot take it back; similarly, if the person who has donated dies, his inheritors cannot take it back. 

According to Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali fiqh scholars, it is not permissible to cancel one’s donation. However, it is permissible to give up hiba only for a father who has donated something to his child. Their evidence is the following hadith:

"It is not permissible for a man to give a gift then take it back, except what a father gives to his child." (Tirmidhi, Buyu', 62; Ibn Majah, Hibat, 2)

Hanafis accept this hadith in the sense of giving up a donation that is based on consent and that is not based on a decision by the judge. (al-Qasani, ibid, VI/128-134; Ibn Qudama, al-Mughni, VI/296; as-Sarakhsi, ibid, XII/54; al-Jaziri, ibid, III/417-419; Shafii, al-Umm, Egypt, 132-1325, VII/105; Abdulkadir Şener, ibid, p. 103-105; Majalla, item, 866-874)

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