Awareness of Wasiyyah as Islamic estate planning instrument among muslim academician in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

Abstract

Islamic estate planning is about making plans for the distribution of one’s Wealth that are consists of fixed assets (such as land, residential or commercial building) and movable assets (such as cash, saving or current account, investment account, shares and vehicles) to their rightful heirs. In Malaysia, Muslim community is bound by Islamic Inheritance Law called Faraid when it comes to estates distribution when a person demise. Muslim community has taken Faraid system for granted and completely ignored that there are civil law and a lengthy estate administration process to go through before the Faraid can be implemented. Wasiyyah (Islamic Will) come from “wassa” which means to order, advice and promise or give away property after death. Furthermore, Shafi’e Scholars defined Wasiyyah is the granting of a right which is implemented after the death of the testator, either verbally or otherwise. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to look onto the Muslim academic staff awareness towards Wasiyyah as Islamic estate planning instrument. The objectives of this research are to identify the level of awareness among Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s academician towards Wasiyyah as Islamic estate planning instrument, and to determine the influence factors for making Wasiyyah among UTM’s academician. Questionnaire were distributed to the academic staff of UTM’s Skudai Campus, Johor. The data collected through research instrument were then analysed by the interpretation of percentage and mean score. The result indicated that UTM’s academician are aware and strongly aware that Wasiyyah is an Islamic estate planning instrument. Respondents are strongly aware (84%) on Wasiyyah as a protection of rights, while (79.3%) aware on Wasiyyah as religious claim, Wasiyyah involved law and processes (77.20%), and Wasiyyah as an administration solution (77.19%). UTM’s academician also agreed the influence factors for making Wasiyyah are perceptions (80%), estate administration processes (75.2%), knowledge (73%), value of estate and applicable costs (80%), and media awareness (63%). While the respondents are not influenced by attitude (59%), family influence and Faraid structure (54%). As a conclusion, majority of respondents are aware that Wasiyyah protecting the rights of their family, providing administration solution to their estates and acknowledging that Wasiyyah as Islamic estate planning instrument. Furthermore, the result also shows that the biggest influencing factor for making Wasiyyah among UTM’s academician staff is perception.