Badruddin Ibrahim

The Child’s Right to Maintenance: The Extent of the Family’s Responsibilities in Islamic Law and According to the Family Law Provisions of Muslim Countries

The relationship between parents and children is a strong, ineluctable one. It has a profound, emotional effect on both, as it is based on blood and lineage. The child-parent relationship gives rise to mutual rights and duties. These rights relate to the person of the child: for protection, care and maintenance. This article will examine the rights of children to maintenance. It will examine the law applied in Malaysia and several Muslim countries: Morocco, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and Qatar. It will identify the family relationships which have particular responsibility to provide maintenance to children, and examine the extent of the obligation, and the entitlement of children to such rights. This article also aims to investigate the extent of the role of family law institutions in safeguarding such rights of children. Where appropriate, it will make suggestions for the improvement of relevant Islamic statutory provisions in Malaysia.

Hibah (gift inter vivos) by parent in favour of some children to the exclusion of the others under Islamic Law

This study examines issues arising from gift giving (hibah) by a parent to one or more of his/her children to the exclusion of the others under Islamic law in general and as applied to Muslims in Malaysia in particular. Does a parent have an absolute right to dispose of property to his/her children by means of hibah without concern for fairness to the other children? Is hibah a valid and acceptable practice in a modern Muslim society? Is the core issue one of an individual’s absolute property rights or is it restrained by the principle of fairness in dealing with properties? This study will attempt to provide a right and acceptable guidance with respect to the disposal of property to children by means of hibah.