Darul Ifta New Zealand Islamic Will (Last Will and Testament) Template

A free, New Zealand-specific Islamic will template published by Darul Ifta New Zealand, the fatwa department of Darul Uloom Arabia Islamia NZ (a faculty of the Auckland Islamic Trust), run by Mufti Muhammad Irshad Motara. The template is actively maintained: the current version on the contracts page is Last-Will-revised-2026.pdf, uploaded May 2026. It directs executors to distribute the estate in the Islamic order of priority: funeral expenses first, then debts, then the wasiyyah (Islamic bequest, capped at one third of the net estate and reduced proportionately if exceeded), with the residue distributed to Islamic heirs under the Islamic Law of Succession. It includes a clause making a designated Muslim judicial body or expert binding on questions of Islamic law, and a trust clause holding any minor child's inheritance with the administrators until majority rather than in the guardian's fund. The same site publishes fatwa guidance on wills, including the ruling that bequests cannot be made in favour of fixed-share heirs and the distinction between a wasiyya and a lifetime gift (hiba).

This is exactly what a community template should be: free, jurisdiction-specific, drafted by the same named mufti who answers the community's inheritance questions, and actually updated (the current file is a May 2026 revision). The clauses show real drafting care, from the proportionate reduction of an oversized wasiyyah to keeping a minor's share out of the guardian's fund. Its limits are the limits of any template in New Zealand law: the Wills Act 2007 execution formalities are unforgiving, and no clause can stop a Family Protection Act claim by a disappointed family member, which is the single biggest legal risk to faraid distribution in NZ. Print it, fill it, then pay a lawyer for an hour to check execution and flag whether your family situation invites claims. For most Muslim households with simple estates, that combination costs a fraction of bespoke drafting and gets the religious mechanics right.