endowment is distributed to everything that contains reward, merit, and righteousness, because the wording is general regarding that. Our companions said: The endowment is divided into three parts; one part is distributed to the warriors, one part is distributed to the person’s closest relatives among the poor, because they are the paths of greatest reward, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Your charity to a relative is both charity and maintaining kinship ties" (11). The third part is distributed to those who receive Zakat due to their need, and they are five classes: the poor, the needy, the freeing of slaves, those in debt for their own benefit, and the wayfarer; because these are people of need explicitly mentioned in the Quran, so those whom God Almighty mentioned in His Book are more deserving than others, even if they are equal in need. This is the school of al-Shafi'i. As for our position, his wording is general, so it is not mandatory to restrict it to some due to them being more deserving, just as the poor and needy in Zakat, it is not mandatory to restrict it to his relatives among them, even if they are more deserving, and the same applies to all other general terms. If he makes a bequest for the paths of righteousness, it is distributed to everything that contains righteousness and piety. Our companions said: It is distributed into four paths: his relatives who are not heirs, the needy, jihad, and Hajj. Abu al-Khattab said: And another opinion from him is that it is for the ransom of captives in place of Hajj. The argument for the two opinions is what has already been mentioned in the previous case.

923 - Issue; He said: (If he did not designate its end for the needy, and no one remains among those for whom he endowed it, it returns to the heirs of the endower, in one of the two narrations from Abu Abd Allah, may God have mercy on him, and the other narration is that it becomes an endowment for the nearest agnate heirs of the endower).

The entirety of this is that the endowment (1) whose validity is not disputed is that which has a known beginning and end, not being discontinued, such as if it is made for the needy, or a group whose extinction is not permitted by custom.