He built an apartment over his father’s house with his own money; do the heirs have any right to it?.

My father died in 1991 and left behind a house composed of three
floorsand a tailor's shop. I have a brother, three sisters and my
mother. My father promised the third floor to my brotherand he
promised the shop to me, but these words were not written down. I came
out of the Army in 1992 and I had some money, approximately 10,000
pounds, with which I built an apartment on the fourth floor, and I
helped my sisters to finish their education and get married. My mother
and one of my sisters help me in the shop by making buttonholes,
sewing on buttons and so on. My question is: how should the estate be
divided, based on the above information
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
Fathers are obliged to treat their children fairlyin terms of giving
gifts; it is haraam for a father to show preference to one of his
children in any way. Based on that, it would not be permissible to
fulfil the promise that he made toyou and your brother if he were
alive. As he has died, what is required is to divide the estate
according to the shares stipulated in sharee'ah. The scholars of the
Standing Committee were asked:
Is it permissible for a father to register a pieceof farmland in the
name of one of his sons and ignore the rest of his children? My father
registered a piece of farmland in my name and ignored my sister and
little brother. Should I sponsor these children or ignore them?
They replied:
The father is obliged to treat his children equallyin terms of giving
gifts, in accordance with the shar'i guidelines on inheritance. It is
not permissible for him to single out some of them and not others,
because the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) forbade
that. It was narrated from an-Nu'maan ibn Basheer(may Allah be pleased
with him) that his father brought him to the Messenger of Allah
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and said: I have given this
son of mine a slave I owned. He said: "Have you given a similar gift
to all your children?" He said: No. He said: "Then take it back."
Agreed upon.
Based on that: your father must be fair in thegifts that he has given
tosome of his children by giving each of his children something like
that which he gave to the one mentioned, or else he should take back
the gift from him. As your father has died, you should divide the
estate between you and the rest of the heirs in accordance with the
shar'i ruling.
Shaykh 'Abd al-'Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh 'Abdullah ibn Ghadyaan. Shaykh
Saalih al-Fawzaan, Shaykh 'Abdal-'Azeez Aal ash-Shaykh,Shaykh Bakr Abu
Zayd
End quote from Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa'imah, 16/216
For more information, please see question no. 114659
Secondly:
With regard to the apartment that you builtwith your own money,
itbelongs to you and the heirs have no right to it. When the estate is
divided, this apartment should be evaluated on the basis that it is a
separate apartment, with no share of the value of the land, and is
your property. In other words, experts should work out the value of
this structure without including any part of thevalue of the land on
which it is built.

He stole money from the company and he is asking about the ruling on his prayer and other acts of worship.

(O Allaah, You are All-Forgiving and You love forgiveness so forgive me)."
Selamun Aleykim,
I am 33 years old.
When I was approximately 26 years old, I was working for a company
owned by 3 people. I was the manager at that time and in charge of the
business.
I had been working withthis group since the age of 18 and they are
(and still are) close friends and family.
Whilst working with them, at the ages of 26-27 I stole money fromthem.
I lost my ways, and began to make friends with the wrong people. Iknew
the mistake I was making but because of the life I was leading, the
people I was involved with substancesinvolved, I could not bring
myself out of it. But I kept a record of themoney that I took and it
is approximately$24,000.
I lose sleep over this and ask Allah in my dua's to help me with this,
it's the biggest burden I have on my life and I don't know what to do.
No body knows about this but myself, my wife and Allah (swt). – and now you.
Elhamudulillah, Allah hastaken me away and has shown his mercy upon me
and I am now married, focused on my deen and doing the best I can
Inshallah.
I have researched your site regarding fatwas you have given on this
subject, but if you could please answer the point form I have left
below, itwould help me;
Please answer the rulingof my questions below;
- I am not in a position to pay this money back, what happens if I die
tomorrow will the gates to Jannah be closed for me?
- Am I to attempt to pay this money back somehow?
- I still have some things I used that money to buy(clothes, items
etc) what do I do with them? Throw them away, give them to the poor?
- If I can never pay this money back, will my prayers, fasts and
zakkats be accepted by Allah (swt)?
- Can I go to Hajj for pilgrimage?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
Praise be to Allah Who has guided you to the path of truth and saved
you from the company of bad friends.
It is well-known that sinsare of two types:
1.
Sins that have to do withthe rights of Allah. Allah may forgive these,
if a person repents sincerely,as He says (interpretation of the
meaning):
"And He it is Who acceptsrepentance from His slaves, and forgives sins"
[ash-Shoora 42:25].
2.
Sins that have to do withthe rights of other people. In order for
repentance from these sins to be accepted, it is stipulated that the
individual should restorethose rights to them or ask them to let him
off, by asking them to forgive him and forget the dues he owes to
them. Al-Bukhaari (6534)narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be
pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) said: "Whoever has wronged his brother, let him ask him to
forgive him, for there (i.e., on the Day of Resurrection) there will
be no dinars and no dirhams, before some of his good deeds are taken
and given to his brother, and if he has nogood deeds to his
credit,some of his brother's bad deeds will be taken and thrown onto
him."
See also the answer to question no. 43017
Secondly:
If you cannot return the money at present, then it remains something
that you owe and you must return it when you are able to do so.
Al-Qurtubi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:If the sin involved
wronging people, then repentance from it is notvalid unless the
propertyis returned to its rightfulowner – whether it is the exact
property itself or otherwise – if he is able to do that. If he is not
able to do that, then he must resolve to return it whenever he is able
to do so, at the earliest possible opportunity.
End quote from Tafseer al-Qurtubi, 18/200
If it so happens that a person is not able to return property to its
rightful owners before he dies, but he intended to return it, then it
is up to Allah, and perhaps Allah will pay it back for him on the Day
of Resurrection.
Thirdly:
Acceptance of righteous deeds, such as prayer, zakaah, Hajj and other
acts of worship, is up to Allah, but there is the hope that if a
person does an act of worship in the manner required Islamically, that
Allah willaccept it from him.
In the answer to question no. 107241 we stated that the fact that a
person does acts of disobedience and major sins does not mean that
other, righteous deeds will not be accepted from him. This applies
tothe one who has not repented from those sins, so how about the one
who has repented and has decided to return property to its rightful
owners.
Based on that, your previous sins do not mean that your righteous
deeds, such as prayer, zakaah and so on, will not be accepted from
you.
With regard to Hajj, it is well-known that Hajj requires financial
resources; if you have money that is surplus to your needs, then what
you have to do is use it to pay off what you oweof dues to others, and
what you took from people's wealth, even if it is less than what is
owed. So what you haveto do is reduce these dues as much as you
can."On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear"
[al-Baqarah 2:286].
We ask Allah to help you to pay off your debt and to forgive us and
you, for He is able to do that.
And Allah knows best.

The prayer of Hadrat Umar (ra)

He used to stand up in prayer the whole night and used to weep so much
that there had grown two permanently dark tear-lines on his face.
Abdullah bin Shaddad (RA) narrated that one day Hadrat 'Umar (RA) led
the prayer and as he came to the Verse:
"Verily, I only complain of my sorrow and my grief to Allah" (Yosuf:86)
he wept so much that the people were greatly perturbed.
Hadrat Imam Hasan (RA) narrated that once Hadrat 'Umar (RA) was
leading the prayer. When he reached the Verse:
"The punishment of thy Lord shall certainly cometo pass. There is none
who can avert it." (At-Tur:7,8)
he wept so much that hiseyes were swollen. At times he wept so much
that people got despaired of his life.

10 Things about Uthman (RA)

Before the martyrdom ofUthman (RA.), he spoke to Abu Thaur al-Fahmi (RA.) thus:
I entertain great hopes in my Lord with Whom I have placed ten things as trust:
1. I am the fourth personto accept Islam.
2. The Holy Prophet (SAW) gave his daughter in marriage to me.
3. On her death, he gave me his second daughter in marriage.
4. I have never sung a song.
5. I have never even thought of wickedness.
6. Ever since I took the oath of allegiance to the Holy Prophet (SAW)
with my right hand, I have never touched the genitals therewith.
7. Ever since I became a Muslim, I have set free a slave on every Friday.
8. I have never committed adultery during the Days of Ignorance or
after embracing Islam.
9. I have never stolen anything during the Days of Ignorance or after
embracing Islam.
10. I committed the Holy Quran to memory duringthe life time of the
Holy Prophet (SAW).