Those with the Right of Disposal 34item The state granted the orphans of a martyr a plot of land or some property and sanctioned it to be registered in their names. The legal guardian of the minor children refused to sign the official documents. Can the authorized religious authority do so in his capacity as guardian? A minor child has some money in the bank. Can his guardian withdraw some of that money with a view to investing it in business and making some profit for the benefit of the child and covering child’s expenses? My husband died, leaving me with minor children. According to the court’s injunction the paternal grandfather became their legal guardian. Should one of the children grow up to the age of ritual maturity, can he become the shar‘ī guardian of his minor brothers and sisters? If he cannot, can I be the guardian over the children? Also, in accordance with the court’s injunction, their grandfather would take a share of one sixth in the estate. What is your opinion? A person is incapacitated with mental disability after suffering a stroke. How should his children behave vis-à-vis his property? And what is the ruling in the matter of one of the children making use of his father’s property without the permission of the authorized religious authority, nor that of the rest of the children? An adult is injured. Has the man’s father or paternal grandfather the right to demand or take blood money for the victim without his permission, i.e. is the criminal obligated to pay blood money to the victim upon their demand? A woman was killed. She left her father, mother, husband, and three minor children behind. Her brother-in-law was convicted of her murder and ordered to pay blood money to the woman’s inheritors. However, the killed woman’s husband, who is the shar‘ī guardian of the children, is convinced that his brother is not the killer. Thus, he refused to receive the blood money: 1. Is he justified in so doing? 2. With the existence of the father and the paternal grandfather of the children, has anyone else the right to intervene and insist on having blood money for the children from their convicted uncle? In his capacity as his orphan brothers’ guardian, a man bought them a plot of land with their own money. However, he did not get an official document for the purchase of land in the hope that he would get it sometime in the future. He would have hoped to sell it at a higher price. He is now apprehensive that someone might claim the ownership of the land or that it might be confiscated. Furthermore, if he sells the land now, it might not fetch even the original price he paid for it. Should he stand to indemnify the children if the land is sold at a loss? A father bought some property for his minor children. Having satisfied the legal requirements for the sale, can the sale be deemed concluded by the father’s taking possession of the property, as the guardian of the children? After the death of my father, my uncles began to run his shop, opting to pay us a monthly rent. After a while, my mother, who was then our legal guardian, borrowed an amount of money from one of my uncles. My uncles withheld the payment of rent to recover the amount of the debt. Later on, they bought the shop from my mother contrary to the provisions of the law that had been designed to preserve the rights of minors in their property until they attain ritual maturity. The transaction was concluded at the time of the previous regime with the mediation of one of the regime’s men. What is our duty now? Can the previous actions and transactions be regarded as valid? Are we justified in revoking the transaction? And should the right of the children be overlooked because of time lag? Can the authorized religious authority withhold the right of guardianship over a minor child from his natural guardian after concluding that he is doing harm to the property of the child? Is it obligatory on the guardian of the minor child to receive its share of the blood money? And is it compulsory on him to invest the child’s share from the blood money for the benefit of the child in, say, a savings bank account? If the clothes or toys gifted to a child become redundant, is it permissible for his guardian to give them away in charity? The heirs of a killed person or some of them are minor children and the guardianship over them in claiming their rights is with the authorized religious authority. Then, if it is proved for the authorized religious authority that the perpetrator is insolvent, has he the right to change the retaliatory punishment for blood money? If all the heirs of a murdered person are minor children or mad, is it permissible for their father or grandfather, i.e. their natural guardians, or the guardian appointed by the court to demand retaliatory punishment or blood money? How should the presents given to the family of a martyr by his friends be treated? In other words, should they be regarded as part of his children’s property? 123