Giving A Child’s Eid-Money To Another Child As Eid-Money

Darulifta Ahlesunnat

(Dawateislami)

Question

  What do the respected scholars and the muftis of jurisprudence say regarding this matter that on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr, young children are given Eid-money by parents. In the same way, when children go to their relatives’ houses, the non-baligh (pre-pubescent) children are given Eid-money there too, and when the children of those relatives come to their home, then they give them Eid-money from the accumulated Eid-money given to their children. Can one give Eid-money to their relatives’ children from the Eid-money given to his children or not, and can parents bring this money into their own use or not? Likewise, when one receives envelopes and gifts etc. as Eid-money or on birthdays, whose [ownership]do they fall within, the children’s or the parents’(Questioner: Imran, Latif Abad, Zam Zam Nagar Hyderabad)

بِسْمِ اللہِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ

اَلْجَوَابُ بِعَوْنِ الْمَلِکِ الْوَھَّابِ اَللّٰھُمَّ ھِدَایَۃَ الْحَقِّ وَالصَّوَابِ

  In the scenario mentioned in the question, the Eid-money that children receive falls within the [ownership]of children.

  Parents cannot give Eid-money from it to their relatives’ children and parents cannot spend this money on themselves either. However! If parents are poor and they are in need of money, then they can use from it as per necessary. Other than this, even they do not have any permission to use it.

  Moreover, regarding the envelopes and gifts etc. received by children as Eid-money or on their birthdays, if the one giving it specifies himself that this is for so and so, then it will belong to whoever it is said it is for. Otherwise, whatever things one knows that they belong to the child, like small clothes, toys, etc., then they will belong to the child, and if not, then they will belong to the parents; and if the one gifting it is from the father’s relatives or friends, then they will belong to the father, and if he/she is from the mother’s relatives or friends, then they will belong to the mother. In short, norm and custom will be taken into consideration. If feminine things like clothes etc. are given from the father’s relatives’ side, then they will be for the woman, and if some items which are of men’s use are given from the mother’s relatives’ side, then they will belong to the man, and if it is such an item which can be used by both men and women, then it will belong to whosoever’s relatives’ or friend’s side it has come from.  However, if such a large amount of Eid-money is given that is understood that this amount of money is not normally given to the children but to the parents, then it will not be in the ownershipof children, rather, it will belong to the mother or father as detailed above.

وَاللہُ اَعْلَمُ  عَزَّوَجَلَّ  وَرَسُوْلُہ اَعْلَم صَلَّی اللّٰہُ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ وَاٰلِہٖ وَسَلَّم

Answered by:Mufti  Muhammad Qasim Attari