Wills · Waqf · Wealth
Amana Central keeps a Muslim family's record: what you own, who inherits under the Islamic shares, and what is due, with the source of every figure. Your solicitor writes the will from it. Your family keeps it up to date.
The problem
A solicitor writes the will, an accountant plans the tax, an imam is asked afterwards. Ordinary tax planning can quietly break the Islamic shares, and nobody finds out until someone dies.
Three things that can override a will
Each of these is common in British Muslim families, and each is easy to check once you know to look.
Many couples own their home in a way that passes it to the other owner automatically when one of them dies, whatever the will says. In law this is owning as “joint tenants”. Owning as “tenants in common” means your share goes where your will says. Neither is wrong; check that it is what you meant.
GOV.UK, Joint property ownership4
Many pensions are not paid out under your will. The pension scheme decides who gets the money, guided by a form you signed naming who you would like it to go to, and that form may be years old. From 6 April 2027, most pension money that has not been used will also count for inheritance tax.
GOV.UK, Inheritance Tax: unused pension funds3
A nikah held in England or Wales without a civil (registered) marriage is not a legal marriage under English law. If one partner dies without a will, the other has no automatic right to inherit and would have to ask a court to award them something. Speak to a solicitor about your wills, and about a civil ceremony.
Attorney General v Akhter and Khan [2020]; the Inheritance Act 19755,6
Two laws, one family
Yusuf dies leaving £500,000 in his own name, his wife Amina, his son Bilal and his daughter Maryam. With a will, the Islamic shares apply. Without one, English law decides.
Shared by the Islamic shares, Shafi'i madhab
Shared by English law's rules for people with no will
Without a will, a husband or wife gets the first £322,000 and half of the rest, and the children share the other half. It takes a will to make the Islamic shares legally binding.
An example only, before debts, funeral costs and any inheritance tax. Our software worked out the Islamic shares for this family. The no-will figures follow English law (Administration of Estates Act 1925, s.46), with the £322,000 amount in force since 26 July 2023.7 General information, not advice.
The rule behind every figure
The Islamic shares come from the Quran's verses on inheritance, as the four Sunni madhabs, the established traditions of Islamic law, read them. Each figure shows where it comes from, and where the madhabs differ, it says which view it follows. Where scholars have not agreed an answer, our software says so instead of guessing.
Scholars are reviewing our rules. Until they sign them off, every screen says “attestation pending”.
A will is written once.
A family keeps changing.
Amana keeps your family's record up to date as life changes: what you own, who inherits and what is due, with the reason behind each figure, and the professional you trust looking at the same page.
For familiesAmana Family Office
One private record of what your family owns, who inherits and what is due, in plain English and kept up to date.
Opening in stages Families join by invitation while we open. Register your interest and we will tell you when it is your turn.
A short film
A made-up family, to show how it works. Every figure in the film is invented, and our scholars have not yet signed off the rules it uses.
Five minutes, six questions
Answer six questions and get a short list of what to check with a solicitor. It is general information, not advice, and it takes about five minutes.
Your answers stay in your browser. Nothing is sent and nothing is stored.
Zakat
No account needed, and nothing is kept. Zakat is due once your wealth is above a minimum, the nisab, which is set from today's gold price. The calculator shows every step, so you can check each figure.
THE NISAB, THE ZAKAT MINIMUM
Zakat is due on wealth above the value of 85 grams of gold. The calculator uses today's gold price and shows when it was checked.
Amana Wills
The first 50 firms to join Amana Wills take the Professional or Business plan at a launch price for their first six months, then the standard price. No lock-in, cancel any time. Plans and prices are on amanawills.com.
For practices
Waqf
In 1552, one woman's endowment built a kitchen that fed Jerusalem for four centuries.11
A waqf is property or money set aside for good causes, usually for ever. Families have made them for centuries. Amana helps you plan yours: what it is for, who looks after it and what goes into it, kept with the rest of your family's record. Nothing is legally binding until a deed is signed.
In Istanbul's survey of 1546, 36% of the endowments recorded were founded by women.12
Amanah: a trust held for others
Amanah is a trust you hold on someone else's behalf. We named the company for it, and we hold ourselves to what it asks: to keep a family's record faithfully, and to say plainly what we do not do.
What we will never do
We keep the record; your money stays where it is.
On anything we point you to, including zakat.
We are the software. Your solicitor or accountant advises.
Your shares and your zakat are worked out by fixed rules, with the rule shown.
Meet us
10 AND 11 OCTOBER
We were there, with the shares worked out in front of visitors and a specimen will read clause by clause. Met us there? Your stand pack is here.
19 TO 23 OCTOBER
We pitched at the founder showcase with Ihsan Venture Studio.
FROM SATURDAY 7 NOVEMBER
Sit down with a regulated solicitor and leave with your will under way. Arrange a place.
